


Adrenaline

by DonTheRock



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Amusement Parks, Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffin, Coming Out, Disney Channel, Drama & Romance, Fluff, Gay, Gossip, LGBTQ Character, M/M, Not-So-Scary-Basketball-Guy, Romance, Teen Angst, Teen Romance, Teenagers, The Only Person I Can Talk To Like This, Underdog, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-30 09:44:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 27,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18313091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DonTheRock/pseuds/DonTheRock
Summary: "Here, practice on me.""On you?"When Cyrus and his friends start their new jobs at Adrenaline City, Cyrus crosses paths with TJ, a good-looking boy who is hopelessly unattainable—at least that's what Cyrus thinks.





	1. Neat Socks

**Cyrus' POV**

 

"Are you excited for your first day of work?" my mom asks.

A toothy grin covers her face, while her eyes flicker back and forth between me in the passenger seat and the road. 

"It's just training, Mom," I respond. 

"But you'll be out on the park this time!" she chirps. "I just can't believe my baby has his first job!"

I glance back at Andi, Buffy and Jonah in the backseat, who are stifling their giggles with their hands over their mouths. 

I turn back ahead. "Mom, you can't say that when we get there."

"Oh, come on, Cyrus," Andi defends. "She's just being supportive."

"Her supportive is equivalent to a regular person's embarrassing."

"Okay, okay," my mom says. "Don't worry. I won't embarrass you."

"Thank you."

She pulls into the parking lot of the recreation centre, and I spot the yellow bus with the Adrenaline City logo taped up in the window. One of the perks of working there is the free employee transportation to and from the park. There are multiple busses that pick up from different locations within Shadyside. The one closest to me happens to start its route here. 

The engine cuts out as my mother twists the key, then says, "Have a good day, sweetie."

"Thanks, Mom."

More vocalizations of gratitude sound from the backseat before my friends step out of the car and meet up with me. Several teens chat together in a cluster outside the bus, two of them sitting on one of the concrete parking blocks near the wire fence. One of them is wearing an indigo hoodie with the park's name on it, signalling to me that he must be a returnee. 

Andi steps onto the bus first, showing the driver her employee ID card. 

"More newbies!" the woman says in a cheerful tone. "I'm Charlene, and I like to get to know all of the kids I drive, so what are your names?"

We take turns answering the question. 

"Wonderful! I'm so excited to meet you kids," she says. "Just make sure the rest of you show me your cards, and then you can take a seat wherever you like."

We do as instructed and step up into the aisle between the rows of grey seats. Nearly every spot is taken by teenagers, many of which are sitting alone. 

"People don't like to converse much at the start," Charlene explains, "but pretty soon they'll all be friends and start sitting together."

We look back to the crowded bus, then walk down the aisle. Andi and Buffy find the last completely empty spot and sit down together. 

"Sorry," Buffy says to Jonah and I. "I guess you'll have to just pick someone to sit with."

"That's okay," Jonah says with a smile. "I love new people."

Immediately, he plops down beside the shaggy-haired boy next to him. The kid grins as Jonah introduces himself and starts a conversation. Of course this isn't hard for Jonah. He's extroverted and feeds off the energy of others. I, on the other hand, am nervous as I walk past a few more rows of seats, trying to decide which one to take. I could join any of the girls I pass by, but I worry that they'll think I'm a creep who's trying to hit on them or something—even though I'm very gay, but they don't know that. Instead, I lower into a seat beside a tall, blonde-haired boy. As soon as I sit, he turns his head to take a quick glance at me and I immediately notice how attractive he is.  _Why'd I have to choose this seat? Is it too late to switch spots?_

Before I can make a decision to move, Charlene calls out, "We're about to leave! Josie, is everyone here?"

A hand sticks up from between the seats, giving Charlene a thumbs up. 

"Perfect!" Charlene cheers. 

The engine sputters to life and the bus begins rolling forward. As we drive through and out of Shadyside, I look over at the boy beside me. He doesn't speak, keeping his head turned toward the window as he gazes out at the trees and fields we zoom by. 

Eventually, the trees disappear like lifting a curtain, revealing Adrenaline City in all its beauty. Located several kilometres out of Shadyside, the amusement park stands alone in the distance. The green behind it goes on for what looks like forever. Right away, I feel lucky that I'll be able to come out here nearly everyday this summer. 

When the bus slows to a stop, the kids spring up out of their seats and flood the centre aisle. They all thank Charlene on their way out, and it's easy to tell which ones are returnees based on the friendliness in their voices. After exiting the bus, I regroup with my friends, and we follow the crowd toward the thin branch of a large building next to one of those automatic gates that keep vehicles from driving through. We take out our ID cards again and hold them up to the open window. A girl who looks around nineteen, give or take a couple years, lifts a scanner to our cards. 

"Thanks," I say as she scans mine. 

"No problem . . . 15022," she says, reading the number off my card. 

"Cyrus," I say. 

"Cool," she responds. "Nia."

She smiles before lifting her scanner to help the next person in line. I walk with my friends around the corner of the building. To my right, a paved road runs along, with a few work trucks parked on the far side. Beside them is what looks to be a giant garage. What it's for, I'm not sure. Where we're headed, though, is into the giant blue building to our left. It extends down next to the road for a while before cutting it off and expanding into an even larger space. We walk in through the doors and trail along behind the line of kids. On the walls, photos of Adrenaline City employees and guests are framed up. After a short walk, the space opens up into a large room with several tables scattered around, and a small restaurant-type area at the back, which doesn't appear to be open right now. 

There isn't anywhere for us to sit, because the space is crowded with teens. It's kind of intimidating seeing so many people all in one place. 

"Busy," Andi comments. 

"No kidding," Buffy responds. 

"Do you think it's always like this?" Andi asks. 

"Probably not," I answer. "Right now about one third of the park's employees are here, so I doubt it will be like this one we're done training and actually start working."

"What's over there?" Jonah wonders, pointing to a set of glass doors on the far wall of the room. Through them there appears to be tables with umbrellas set up, all occupied by more kids. 

"A patio?" Andi suggests. 

All of a sudden, a familiar face emerges from the ocean of bodies.

"Hey!" Amber says with a smile. "I didn't know you guys were working here!"

"We didn't know you were either," Andi responds. "Don't you work at The Spoon?"

"Actually," she says, "since I'm studying dance in college next year, I wanted to do something related to that over the summer. I'm in entertainment as one of the dancers for the stage shows."

"That's fun," Andi chimes. 

Suddenly, a shout breaks through the buzz of voices. "Hello!" 

Everyone stops to turn to the boy—he looks like he's also in his late teens—wearing a pale yellow button-up shirt with an Adrenaline City logo patch ironed on over his left breast. 

"I'm going to start calling departments to go outside and meet their leaders!" he announces. "Can I get all of entertainment to go down the hall and turn right." He points in the direction. "You'll see the door to the park, and you'll want to go out there and over to Summertime Stage."

Amber turns back to us. "That's me. I'll see you guys later."

We wave her goodbye as she leaves. The rest of us continue to talk until the foods department is called and Andi has to go. A bit later, Buffy and Jonah have to leave to join the rest of the rides department, which leaves me, a lonely games kid, on my own. Thankfully, it's only about a minute before my department is called and I follow the stream of kids down the hall and outside. 

I step onto the cement path and search for the game called Bottle Toss. As I walk, my eyes hover over a few other games, which I recognize from coming here with my friends. Soon, I find the game I'm supposed to be at. It's a wide counter that encompasses a circular table, which is filled to the edges with glass bottles, all captured by the shade of a big, mushroom-shaped roof, which is held up by green beams. Some kids sit or lean back on the counter to wait for instructions. Not sure what else to do, I sit down between two boys. 

My intention wasn't to talk to either of them, but the one to my left looks down at my feet and says, "Neat socks."

I glance at his objects of interest. The ones I'm wearing are navy blue with skinny, red zig-zags on them. When I look back up, I realize who he is and instantly get nervous again.  _God, how is it possible for a boy to be this damn hot?_

"Thanks," I respond. "I like your hair."

I gaze up at the gelled structure atop his head. It looks so stiff. I wish asking to touch people's hair wasn't a socially weird thing to do, because I'm curious to see if it would even move. 

"Thanks." He gives me a smile. "I'm TJ, by the way."

"Cyrus."

"So Cyrus," he says, "you're in games?"

I nod. "You are too, I assume."

"That's right." 

He looks out at the other teenagers all chatting together in cliques, then back to me. 

"Is this your first job?" he asks. 

"Yup, and I'm kind of terrified. You?"

"Yes and same," he says. "But I think it'll be fun here. There's a lot of kids our age."

"Yes, a place of all teenagers can be fun," I agree. "It's also extremely intimidating, but I'm trying to ignore that."

He chuckles. "You're not intimidated by me, are you?"

"Should I be?"

He pauses for a moment, his eyes wandering over my face as he smiles. "No, I don't think so."

"Really?" I challenge. "Because from afar you looked like the big, strong, athletic type."

"Just because I'm big and strong doesn't mean I'm scary," he says with a grin. 

"I guess that's true," I respond. "What about athletic? Do you play sports?"

"Just basketball," he responds. "I'm the team captain at Grant. You know, I can make a basket from half-court while blindfolded."

"Weird flex, but okay," I say with a laugh. 

He laughs along with me, then says, "What do you do?"

"What do you think I do?" I ask. 

"Hmm." He studies me with furrowed brows. "I'd say . . . president of the reptile club."

"Wrong. I'm co-president."

He chuckles again. "Well, you seem like a cool co-president."

His soft eyes stare into mine, giving me butterflies.  _Why is this happening to me? I haven't even known the guy for an hour and I'm already really attracted to him._

All of a sudden, a girl glides up to us and sits down beside TJ, close enough that their thighs touch. Her blonde hair flows over her shoulders and down to her waist, where high-rise jean shorts start up. Her eyelashes—or I guess I should say her fake eyelashes—flutter as she blinks before setting her gaze on TJ. 

"Hey, baby," she says. "Can you help me do up my bracelet. It came off again."

She holds up the silver chain, and TJ takes it from her. He wraps it around her wrist and locks the clasp in place. 

"Thanks, babe," she says. 

Then she leans in and gives him a peck on the lips, leaving me shook. As she pulls away, TJ turns his head to me. 

"Cyrus," he says, "this is my girlfriend, Megan."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	2. Pepsi?

**Cyrus' POV**

 

Megan swivels her head to look at me, as though she didn't even notice me there until TJ said something. She forces a quick smile, then turns her attention back to TJ, reaching up to run her hand through his hair. 

"You need to get a haircut, babe," she says. "It's getting a bit long."

"I know," TJ responds. "I've got an appointment for next week."

"Good." She touches her hand to his shoulder before standing back up, saying, "I'll see you later."

She gives TJ a flirty wave as she turns around, to which TJ just nods. When TJ returns his focus back to me, I notice the faint exhaustion on his face, as though the minute has somehow drained him. 

"She seems . . . nice," I comment, trying to hide my disappointment.  _Obviously he would have a girlfriend. I'd never have a chance with someone like him._ "How long have you two been together?"

He lets out a puff of air as he does the math in his head. "About four months."

_Yup. There's no way I could be anything but a friend to him._

"That's a long time," I respond. 

"Tell me about it," TJ mumbles, his tone flat. 

_Wait, I'm confused. Is he not happy about that?_

All of a sudden, the crowd of games kids hushes as five people in their late teens to early twenties step up, all wearing button-up Adrenaline City shirts of various colours. The tallest one has a pair dark aviator sunglasses, which block off all sight of his eyes. 

"Hello!" he calls. "Welcome to games! We're"—he gestures to the four others around him—"your leadership team for the season. My name is Eric." 

"I'm Agnes," the girl beside him says.

"James," says the next.

"Cassidy."

"Andrew."

After the introductions, Eric takes the attention again, saying, "As your leaders, we're going to be here to train, support, and guide you throughout the summer. It looks like we have a great team this year," he goes on, scanning the crowd before him. "It's going to be a blast! 

"One thing for you all to remember is where you are right now. This is Main Street, and this is where we'll meet everyday before your shifts start to do the rundown of the day.

"Now let's get started. I'm going to call out names, and those people will join up with Cassidy for training."

As he lists names from his clipboard, I look back over at TJ. When he catches me staring, I quickly snap my head forward again, but out of the corner of my eye I can see him give me a soft smile.

____________________________________

After the first half of training, we are sent on break, but because the employee lounge, the room I first walked into when I got here, is too small for the amount of kids training today, we are directed toward The Pier. TJ and I walk there together, chatting about the games we just learned how to operate. As we approach, we see tables scattered throughout the boardwalk, with teenagers sitting and eating together among them. TJ and I walk up to the long line of hungry trainees to get hamburgers, which the park's managers have generously cooked up for us to eat. 

"So I bet you'll like working at that basketball game," I say. 

"Oh, yeah," he agrees. "I'm pretty excited for that."

"You'll get to show off your skills."

"And," he says with a grin, "I'll get to prove that the game is possible when a guest tries to say it's rigged when really they just suck at basketball."

I laugh as he smiles, pleased with his humour. Now, a few more steps is all that's left to get us up to the table where the managers stand on the other side, making the burgers for us. After filling our paper plates, we both go over to grab our cans of pop from the tall buckets of ice by the side. 

"Pepsi?" I say, noticing his choice. 

"They've got good commercials," he says. 

"So does Coke," I counter, "but Coke's commercials are better."

TJ tilts his chin up, looking down at me with a grin. "Those are big words coming from such a small guy."

I stare back up at him, my eyes narrowed until we both can't hold our faces anymore and break into laughter.

"Hey, do you want to come eat with my friends and I?" I ask. 

He smiles and opens his mouth, about to answer, but before he can, he is interrupted by a hand on his shoulder.

"We're all sitting over there," Megan says, pointing behind her. "You coming?"

"Uh, yeah," TJ replies. Then he looks back to me. "Sorry," he says. "Another time."

"Yeah, sure," I say.

He gives me a shy smile as Megan takes his hand and drags him away with her. Now on my own, I search for my friends in the sea of tables. After a few seconds, I spot them and start winding between the tables like going through a maze. When I reach them, I drop my plate on the table, set my can of cream soda down, and take a seat next to Jonah. 

"Who was the guy you were with?" Buffy asks. 

"He's cute," Andi says. "You could totally go for him"

"He has a girlfriend," I state. 

"Darn," Andi responds. "Aside from that, how was training?"

"Good," I answer. "Learned how everything works. What about you guys?"

"Buffy and I got to run the rides," Jonah explains. "Not with anyone on them, thought, so that was a little lame."

"That's probably a safety thing," I say. "I wouldn't want to be on a ride when someone is being trained on how to run it."

"Fair point," he agrees," but there are lots of safety measures taken. Plus, amusement parks are some of the safest places in the world."

"It's true," Buffy says. "They take a ton of precautions. You're more likely to die from falling out of bed in the middle of the night."

"Is that a fact?" Andi asks. 

"I can't remember," Buffy replies. "It seems like it should be."

We continue to chat while we eat. Once I'm finished, I get up to go throw away my waste. As I walk toward the four different bins, I see TJ standing there with a plate of trash, confused. 

"Need some help?" I ask. 

He looks over at me when he hears my voice, the frustration in his expression softening a little. 

"That'd be nice," he replies. "Why does there need to be four bins? Why can't everything just go in one place?"

I chuckle a little at his remark. "That's the reason our planet is in trouble in the first place."

I take his plate from his hand and begin separating out the waste into the proper locations. 

"The plastic ketchup packets go in the landfill. The empty cans go in the bottle and can recycling. And lastly, the paper plates and napkins go in the compost, because they're too soiled to recycle."

"Got it," TJ says. 

"Yeah?"

"No," he admits with a small laugh. "I'll just have to make sure you're around whenever I need to throw something away."

I smile, liking the idea of that. Even though I know he doesn't mean anything more by it, I still like that he wants me around. 

All of a sudden, TJ glances over his shoulder as his name is called out from a few tables away. Megan waves for him to come back, and he gives her a nod.

"I gotta go," TJ says. "I'll see you around."

"See you," I respond as I watch him leave. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For story purposes, we're gonna pretend that Shadyside is located in a place where it snows more (from like November to March/April-ish) cause it's important that Adrenaline City is only open from the start of May to the end of October. I love you all! Thank you for reading!


	3. Opening Day

**TJ's POV**   
  
  


My metal water bottle rattles in the cup holder of my sky blue, 1985 Chevy truck as it zips down the highway. I've had this car since I first got my learner's permit, and I was finally able to drive it on my own when I got my license in the winter. I look out as the forestry appears ahead then vanishes as it falls behind.

Megan sits beside me in the passenger seat, scrolling through her phone, looking up every once in a while as she talks. I'm not really paying attention to her. I think she's talking about some guy that her friend, Kira, is into; I couldn't repeat any specifics if my life depended on it, though. I fade in and out of the conversation as I drive, thinking mostly about how both excited and nervous I am for today. It's the opening day for Adrenaline City this season, and that means it's also my first day dealing with real guests, and real situations are a lot different than hypothetical ones. I only start listening to Megan's yakking when I hear her mention my truck.

"You really need to get a new car," she says. "It's so old and beaten up."

"Hey," I respond, ready to defend my baby. "This was my grandfather's truck, and I promised I would cherish it. Sure, it has a few minor scratches and dents. Once I've made some money this summer, I'll be able to get it repaired."

"TJ, it'd be a better use of your money to just buy a whole new car. Something with a bit more class."

I'd like to argue that my Chevy has boatloads of class, but I know she won't change her mind. So instead I just let her babble on about it. Eventually, we pull into the parking lot and I get out of the car, freed from her rambling. After scanning in at the back gate, we go inside the administration building and walk down the hall into the employee lounge.

Right when we get in, Megan gets caught up in a conversation with Kira. I've never been fond of that girl, so I continue down the hall, toward the lockers. They stand up against the walls in a square space that extends out from a part of the hall, with two extra rows of lockers standing up on their own in the middle.

After stuffing my backpack into one of the small cubicles and locking it shut, I notice the brunette boy, whom I met in training, putting his own things away. It's only been a week since I've spoken to him, but it feels like a month. I step forward to go talk to him, but before I can get anywhere, a hand with familiar acrylic nails takes mine and pulls me off in the opposite direction, toward the lounge.

"I work at Down the Clown today," she says. "That means I'm going to be all alone."

She stops as we enter the employee lounge space, then turns to me with a pout, putting her arms around my neck.

"You won't die from working on your own for a day," I say.

"I know," she says, tilting her head to look up at me from beneath her eyelashes. "I was just hoping I'd get to work with you."

"Maybe a little independence will be good for you," I comment.

She raises an eyebrow, hurt by what I just said, and removes her arms from around me.

"Whatever," she says. "I've got to go tell Kira something. Can I have a kiss before leave?"

I do as asked, pecking her lips with mine, then she walks off to find her friend. A scan of the room reveals the location of one of my own friends, and I go over to sit down across from him at the table.

"Marty, what's up?" I say.

"Yo!" He gives me a fist bump. "What's up, man?"

"Nothin' much. How 'bout you?"

"Just chillin'."

"Cool," I respond. "How was the rest of training for you?"

"Did I not tell you?"

I shake my head, not sure what he's talking about.

"I found this girl, my department. She is  _fine._ "

"What's her name?"

He shrugs. "Haven't gotten the chance to talk to her yet. But I'm gonna."

"Cool. Let me know how it goes," I respond. "I've got to clock in now, so I'll see you later."

He waves as I get up to go scan my finger at the time clock. After doing that, I head outside and join the rest of the games kids who are working at this time in Main Street. In the cluster of teens, I notice Megan, but my eyes pass over her and stop on the boy I want to see.

"The uniform suits you well," I say as I approach Cyrus.

Our uniform is just an Adrenaline City T-shirt with dark grey pants, which, in all honesty, struggle to look flattering on anybody. But somehow, he pulls it off well.

"Thanks," he says with a smile. "You too."

"Okay, guys!" James, the leader, shouts, making Cyrus and I both look toward him. "Gather around for the rundown of the day! Now who remembers what shows are happening on stage?"

______________________________________

To plush a wall, one needs both creativity and a good understanding of what looks appealing to the eye. The simplest rule is to put the largest stuffed animals up top where everyone can see them, and have rows of plush which gradually get smaller as you reach the bottom. That's what I'm aiming to do as I poke the plush pin, which is really just a drapery hook with a fancy name, into the seam of a stuffed turtle and attach it by hooking it into one of the millions of tiny holes in the wall of the game.

"It's not straight," comes a voice behind me.

The girl starts unhooking the pieces of plush from the wall, adjusting the row until it's completely parallel to the ground all the way across. Then she turns to smile at me.

"See," she says. "That's better."

The highlighter upon her dark skin shimmers in the light, and her black hair is pulled up into a ponytail, tight curls spilling out of the elastic like a waterfall. I've been working with her at this game for about twenty minutes, and I haven't spoken to her until now. 

"Thanks," I say. "I have the tendency to curve downward as I plush."

"I noticed."

She picks up another stuffed turtle and a plush pin, and begins assisting me in filling the display.

"I'm Jazlyn, by the way," she says.

"TJ."

She gives me a smile before grabbing another stuffed prize from the bucket of plush. 

"So TJ, what's someone like you doing working at an amusement park?" she asks. "You don't seem like the kind of person who wants to spend your summer around a bunch of families and kids."

"You'd be surprised," I respond, smiling at the irony of her statement. "I used to work at a gym for little kids. I loved it there."

"Okay, so you're cute and good with kids," she says. "Don't tell me you've also got an amazing sense of humour."

She eyes me as she hooks another turtle into the wall, and I realize what she's doing. I'd be lying if I said I was mad about it, though. I don't mind talking to a girl who isn't so needy all the time. 

"Well, I know a few puns," I disclose, "but that's about it."

She giggles, even though I wasn't joking, before saying, "Okay, that's interesting." 

Then a few seconds later, she changes the subject. "So I've seen you around with Megan."

"Yeah," I reply. "She's my girlfriend."

"Oh," she responds, then turns her gaze to me. "Too bad."

At that moment, a family comes up to the game, and she steps away to help them, her eyes lingering on me for an extra second before she spins around. 

_______________________________________

**Cyrus' POV**

 

My friends and I all walk into The Spoon together and sit down in one of the booths. We decided to come here to celebrate finishing our first day at Adrenaline City while it's open.

"It was busy," Andi says as she stirs her milkshake. "I didn't expect there to be so many people."

"Where were you at today?" Buffy asks.

"Pizza Shack," Andi answers. "Apparently lots of people want pizza at lunch. Me and the other people in my location were constantly making more."

"It's not always supposed to be this crazy," Jonah says. "I'm pretty sure it will calm down a bit."

"Yeah," I agree. "Opening day is always busy, and this was your first time working under pressure. It'll get easier."

"Yeah, I know," Andi responds. "The foods leaders were super helpful, though. One of mine was in the restaurant with us the whole day, making sure we were comfortable with what we were doing. Plus, the returnees had things pretty well under control, so that made things easier."

"That's good," Buffy says. "Cyrus, how was games?"

I shrug. "It was fine."

"Did you talk to that guy friend of yours?"

"Only a little in the morning, but I didn't get to see him all day."

I'm a bit disappointed about that, but I know I'm there to do work, not to talk TJ.

"I'm sure you'll get to talk to him more soon," Andi says. "Once the park opens for full-time at the end of June, and not just for weekends, there will be plenty more chances to see him daily."

"Oh," Jonah cuts in enthusiastically. "Did you guys hear about the employee nights?" 

"A little bit," Buffy replies. "What about them?"

"One of the returnees told me that the first one is in July, and it's a huge game of capture the flag. Basically the entire park is used. Doesn't that sound cool?"

"It does," Buffy agrees, suddenly more into the idea. "It'll be even cooler when I win."

"You'll be with a team of other Adrenaline City employees," Jonah reminds her. "They could suck."

"They better not," she states before popping a baby tater into her mouth. 


	4. Practice on Me

**TJ's POV**  
  
  


"Have a good day!" I say as the family walks away from the game.

It's been a fairly busy day so far, but it's now about a week into June, so I've have many weekends of practice at games, and I'm starting to get more comfortable with talking to the guests.

Right as I'm about to go pick up the baseballs that were poorly aimed when they were thrown, which resulted in the family not winning at the game, a boy, whom I recognize as being part of the break squad, hops over the counter and opens the cupboard underneath the counter to search for my float box.

Every morning before going out to our games, all the games employees have to get a float, which is a box of money that is used to make change for a guest. The profits are then inserted into a slot in the counter, inside which is some kind of container where the bills and coins fall into. To make change quickly and easily, each employee wears an apron, which is separated into multiple pockets to make it easier to keep different types of money in different places.

One of the rules of the float is that it always needs to stay at the same dollar amount throughout the day. So basically, if someone gives me a five dollar bill for a three dollar game, before I can give him two dollars change, I need to put the five dollars into my apron then take out five one dollar bills. Those are then divided into the two dollars of change to the guest and the three dollars that gets dropped through the slot in the counter as revenue.

Because of the huge responsibility of handling money, the float needs to be counted before passing it off to the boy giving me a break. This ensures that if the float isn't at the right amount, we will know who is responsible for the discrepancy. One he's counted my float, he takes my apron and checks his watch.

"You're on break," he says. "It's 3:28. Be back at 3:58."

"Okay."

I climb over the counter and start walking toward the front of the park where the administration building is located.

The break squad, formally known as senior games team, is the group of returning games employee who are responsible for sending the rest of the games team on their breaks. And yes, every minute counts. If I show up even one minute late, it sets the break squad member behind on the rest of their schedule.

As I walk through the park, I notice a familiar face working at a game. I watch as Cyrus crouches down to a child's height and gives a little boy a high five before passing him the prize he won. I want to wave to Cyrus, but he's not looking my way, so I just continue past, heading inside to the employee lounge.

When I get there, I grab my lunch bag from my locker before scanning the tables for a familiar face. I find two kids whom I think I recognize from games, and go over to join them. The girl, I believe, is part of the break squad, while the boy is a first-year like me.

"Mind if I sit?" I ask.

The boy and the girl both nod, and I take a seat across from them at the table.

"You're in games, right?" the girl says.

"Yeah," I respond. "I'm TJ."

"I'm Naadirah," she responds. "This is Chris." She points to the blonde boy sitting next to her.

"Hey," he says.

"Aren't you Megan's boyfriend?" Naadirah asks.

I nod. "Yup." I'd like to be known as more than just Megan's boyfriend, but Megan's already far more popular than I am, so I'm not sure how that will play out.

"Hey," another voice sounds.

The owner of the voice sits down next to me at our table. I think she's also part of the break squad. Immediately, she reaches for one of Naadirah's fries. Naadirah doesn't mind. That's part of the Adrenaline City culture: if you buy fries, expect to share them.

"I like your hijab," the girl, whose name tag shows that her name is Connor, tells Naadirah.

Naadirah touches the lilac purple fabric with a smile.

"Thanks," she says. "It's new."

Then Connor looks at me. "You're TJ, right?"

"The one and only."

"What does that stand for?" Chris asks.

I shrug. "Who knows? I've been asking my dad to tell me my whole life."

The three kids at my table share a laugh.

"You're kidding," Naadirah checks.

"Yeah," I reply. "I do know my name."

Naadirah chuckles a bit more as her eyes glance over at the analog clock on the wall.

"I've got to go," she says. "My break's over."

She gets up and we say our farewells as she leaves. When she disappears into the hallway, I spot another face walking into the room and instantly light up. I hope he sees me and comes to sit down. Unfortunately, that hope is lost when one of his friends, a girl with curly brown hair, approaches him and gets his attention. Without even noticing me, Cyrus follows her toward the patio.

"You okay?" Chris asks.

I snap out of my daze and turn to face him. "Yeah. Why?"

"You looked a little down."

I didn't realize my disappoint had shown on my face.

"No, I'm fine," I say.

___________________________________

**Cyrus' POV**  
  
  


After Eric goes through all of today's park-related news at the rundown of the day, he begins listing which game each of us are working at.

"Amory, you're at Whack-A-Mole. Justin, you're at Bull's-Eye." He steps over to TJ and I, saying, "TJ and Cyrus, you're at Spill The Beans."

TJ and I share a glance as Eric moves on to the next person. I've been waiting to get to work with him. Today's finally that day.

After Eric finishes assigning games, he sends us off to go get our floats. Once that's done, TJ and I walk together up to our game.

When we reach the game, we sit our float boxes down on the ground to open up the garage-type door which is currently shut. I bend down and lift the door up, but in order for it to stay, I need to push it to a certain height so that it locks in place. TJ watches as I jump, shoving the door up, but not up enough.

"I can do that," he says. "I'm taller."

Right as he's about to relieve me of my effort, I take one last leap and manage to thrust the garage door into place. I turn to look at TJ, who stands in awe of my achievement.

"Being short, I've figured out how to do tall people things on my own," I say with a grin.

He lets out a chuckle, then we both pick up our floats from the ground and put them in the game before tying the aprons around our waist, making sure they're both filled with the right amount of cash to provide change with.

At Spill The Beans, two pedestals sit on a counter, each holding up six stacked cans. The objective of the game is to throw a beanbag to knock all of the cans completely off the pedestal in the two throws you get when you pay for the game.

Even though we just opened, a couple is already checking out our game. TJ steps up to the front counter to greet them.

"Hi," he says. "Do you want to play?"

"Yeah," the man replies. "How does it work."

TJ explains the rules and the price, and the man pulls out one dollar to give to TJ. After dropping the bill through the revenue slot, TJ grabs two beanbags from the back counter and places them in front of the man and the woman beside him.

"Go ahead," he says.

The man goes first, winding his arm back to chuck the beanbag toward the pedestal, but he misses the cans by the width of a hair.

"That's okay," TJ says. "You can still win."

The woman takes the second turn. Her throw successfully tips over a few cans, but three still lay on the pedestal, which means she did not win.

"Good try," TJ says. "Are you interested in playing again?"

The man smiles and says, "No, thanks."

"Have a good day," TJ says, waving to them as they walk off.

"You're really good with guests," I tell TJ. "How are you so comfortable talking to people?"

He steps back over to me and shrugs. "Talking to people isn't hard. You just open your mouth and make words come out."

I laugh. "My mouth has the tendency to ignore what my brain is telling it to do."

"Oh, come on," he says. "It's not that hard. Here, practice on me."

"On you?"

"Yeah. Pretend I'm a guest. How would you greet me?"

TJ steps back a bit so that he can walk up again, acting as though he's a guest wanting to play the game. I can't help but notice he cute he is as he looks around, pretending to be interested in playing.

I smile, then join into the act. "Hi, there! How's your gay—I mean day. How's your day going?"  _Crap. I hope he didn't notice that slip of words._

TJ laughs it off, and the tension in my chest releases.

"Pretty good," TJ says. "What are the rules?"

I say my spiel, and when I'm finished, TJ gives me a grin.

"That's awesome," he says. "Now you just have to say that to guests."

"It's not the same," I say. "You make it easy."

TJ keeps his eyes on me for a moment then smiles.

All of a sudden, a family approaches the game, and I step up to help them out. The father looks down at his two sons, who are both probably around eight or nine years of age.

"Is this the game you want to play?" he asks them.

One of the boys shakes his head, but the other nods wildly.

"Okay," the dad says, then he looks at me. "How much is it?"

I explain the price and the rules. After paying, the man and his son receive two beanbags.

"You've got to do it on your own," the man says.

The boy glances up at his dad with a pout. "You won't help me?"

"Nope, it's all you."

"Don't worry. you can do it," I tell the boy.

He smiles at me, then takes his first shot. It knocks five of the cans off the pedestal, and I throw my hands up in amazement.

"Awesome job!" I cheer. "Just one more to knock off."

The boy throws once more, clipping the can on its side, causing it to swivel off onto the counter. He beams at his victory, and I go up to give him a high five.

"Great job! Which prize do you want? You can pick anything on the bottom two rows."

The boy considers his options then points to a white stuffed tiger. I go over to find one in the plush buckets at the back of the game, then I give it to him give a wide smile.

"There you go!" I say. "Have a great rest of your day."

The family leaves, happy with their prize, and I turn back to see TJ staring at me in disbelief.

"Okay, you must've been messing with me," he says, "because you're great at this."

"Yeah, well, it's easier when it's kids."

"Kids are fun. I used to work at gym for kids. I loved it."

"I would not have guessed that," I respond. "You don't seem like a kid kinda guy."

TJ shrugs. "I have layers."

"Is that a Shrek reference?"

TJ grins. "You know it."

We both laugh, settling down after a few seconds when we see more guests come up to the game. TJ and I both go up to help the two separate groups, stealing one more glance at each other before turning our focus to them.

____________________________________

**TJ's POV**  
  
  


Today was less busy than usual, so I spent lots of my time plushing the walls and cleaning the game. Cyrus wasn't working today, so rather than find him like I usually do after work, I spot Megan in the employee lounge and go up to her.

"You ready to go?" I ask.

"Yeah."

We start walking, but she stops almost immediately.

"Wait," she says. "I lent my scrunchie to Kira and need to get it back. I'll meet you at your car."

I nod before walking out of the lounge and scanning out at back gate. A grassy hill is used as a place for the teenagers to sit and chat while they wait for the busses to get here. Since I drive, I continue past it, toward my truck in the parking lot, but I stop when I hear my name. I spin around to see Jazlyn walking up to me.

"Where are you going off to?" she asks.

"My car," I reply.

"Oooh, you drive?" she says with a grin.

"Yup. It's the blue Chevy right over there." I point to my vehicle.

"It looks a little old," she comments.

"Yeah, a lot of people say that," I respond. "Are you taking the bus?"

"Yeah," she answers, "unless someone will give me a ride." Her eyes stare up at mine.

"I would," I respond, "but I'm already driving Megan."

"That's fine. I totally understand," she says, brushing off the question. "But you know, you can never have too many friends."

"No, you cannot."

She grins. "I'm glad you agree."

Then she reaches into her pocket and pulls out a pen.

"Hold out your arm."

I do as instructed, and she puts the cold tip of the writing tool to my skin. I look down at the cursive, curious about what she's writing. By the time I realize the answer, she's already finished. 

"Text me if you want another friend," she says with a grin before spinning around and stepping away.

I stand in shock for a moment.  _She just gave me her phone number. But I'm with Megan. But she's so different from Megan. She's more chill, and I'm a lot more comfortable talking to her than Megan. Maybe she's better._

Suddenly, I remember that Megan's going to be coming out at any moment, and I cannot let her see the ink on my arm. I take off my backpack and pull out my Adrenaline City uniform hoodie. Right as I finish putting it on, I hear Megan's voice calling my name. She steps up, inspecting my attire in confusion.

"Why are you wearing a hoodie?" she asks. "It's, like, seventy degrees out."

"Uh, just felt like being comfy," I reply. "Let's go. I've got some homework to do."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this is insanely long. I didn't expect it to be this long, but hey, what can you do? Also, I know, I know, don't hate me. This is a bit of a slow burn, but I've got this really awesome plan for how everything's going down, so just make sure to pay attention to the details. Third, I'm trusting that Google didn't do me dirty when converting 21 degrees to fahrenheit. Thanks for reading! I love you all! Bye!


	5. If You Say No

**Cyrus' POV**

 

After Andi finally feels confident with her parallel parking job, she, Buffy, Jonah, and I all step out of the car and start walking toward our destination. 

"Sorry we're so far," Andi says. "I wish there were space to park closer, but there isn't."

"It's okay," Jonah responds with a smile. 

We all continue down to sidewalk, making our way toward Zilo's house. Zilo is a fairly popular girl in games with me. Along with being vegan and willing to drink anything with alcohol in it, she and Kira, who also works in games, like to throw parties frequently at Zilo's house. Today, Andi and Jonah wanted Buffy and I to come to the party, because it a (not at all official) celebration of the start of Adrenaline City's full-time operation starting this Saturday. Then the park will be open daily until school starts again in September. 

"Is this it?" Buffy asks as we approach the source of muffled music blasting.

"Yup," Andi says, taking a step onto the driveway. 

We follow Andi up the porch and through the front door. Immediately, the smell of marijuana hits me, and I examine the packed space. It's filled with teenagers I recognize from work. In the living room, Zilo and Kira both stand with the classic red cups in their hands as they watch some boy try to do a headstand on the carpet. 

"Remind me why we're here again," Buffy says. 

"We're being social," Andi replies. "Just try and talk to people."

At that moment, a couple of guys come up to Jonah, and Jonah greets them with a smile and a fist bump for each of them. As he starts talking to the guys, Andi, Buffy, and I continue walking through the house. When we get to the kitchen, Andi spots someone in the crowd, and Buffy and I follow her over to him. 

"Walker!" she calls. "I didn't know you worked at Adrenaline City."

He grins when he sees Andi, setting his drink down on the counter. "I'm in games with Cyrus." he gives me a nudge on the shoulder. 

"Yup," I say. "He's always juggling whenever he's at a game with three of any type of round object."

"You can juggle?" Andi says in surprise.

"You wanna see?" Walker asks. 

He reaches into the bowl of fruit on the counter by the sink and picks out three apples. Then he tosses one up into the air, then another, and soon all three are flying. Andi laughs in awe as he juggles, but Buffy's attention is shifted when a boy taps her on the shoulder. 

"Do I know you?" he asks with a grin. 

Buffy puts a hand on her hip. "You would know if you knew me." Then she gives him a harder look and says, "Wait, are you in rides?"

He smiles and extends out his hand. "Marty Shores."

"Buffy Driscoll," she says, taking his hand to give it a single firm shake. 

While Buffy and Marty start chatting, I look around to see if I can spot anyone else I know. Specifically, I was hoping to find TJ, but my scan through the crowded space tells me that even if he is here, it's unlikely that I'll be able to find him without getting lost on the way. 

Having accepted that my friend is far from being in sight, I step back over to where Andi and Walker are, seeing that Walker has now moved on to juggling bananas. 

 

**TJ's POV**

 

I lean against the wall as I watch the game of truth of drink happening around me, which involves Megan, Kira, and Zilo. I'd rather not be here. I didn't want to come in the first place, but Megan needed someone to drive, so here I am. 

"Okay," Megan says as she laughs, tipsy from the game. "Have you ever slept with a guy you just met?" she asks Zilo. 

Zilo grins then takes a shot, letting us know her answer without actually telling us. The girls laugh together, and I cross my arms over my chest, eager for the party to be over. 

"Why don't you play?" Megan asks me. 

"I told you," I respond. "I don't drink."

She lets out a sigh of exasperation. "Come on, TJ. Live a little."

"Megan, I'm driving," I remind her. 

She rolls her eyes, saying, "Whatever."

She turns back to the girls, but I step away, wanting to find somewhere quieter than this room of teenagers to be. As I wind around groups of kids, I search for an empty space. When I get to the stairs, I see two kids swapping spit against the railing. Disgusted by the sight, I hurry as fast as I can up the steps. 

The second floor is much calmer. There doesn't appear to be anyone up here, so I walk into the first open doorway and take a seat on the bed to let my mind regroup. There are far too many people here for my liking, and, honestly, I just want to go home, but Megan's still relying on me to drive her. As annoyed as I am with her, I'm not going to risk something happening to her if I leave.

All of a sudden, I hear a knock, and I look up to see Jazlyn standing in the doorway. 

"So you come to parties to be alone, huh?" 

I smile, happy to see a nice face rather than my irritating girlfriend. 

"It's a little crowded downstairs," I explain. 

She walks over and sits down next to me on the bed. 

"I get it," she says. "My friends pressured me into coming tonight, but I'd much rather be at home watching a movie or something."

"Yeah," I say. "Megan made me come, because she needs someone to drive her home later."

Jazlyn tilts her head, her eyes on me. "That's not a very great thing for a girlfriend to do."

"I guess not," I agree. 

Then she scoot a little closer to me and locks her eyes onto mine. 

"You know, if I were your girlfriend," she says, "I wouldn't make you go to a party you didn't want to go to. If you say no, I wouldn't push it."

Her eyes flicker to my lips, and I sense her leaning in. 

"Are you saying no?" she whispers. 

I don't answer but let her lips press to mine. The kiss is better than kissing Megan, probably because Jazlyn actually seems to care about me. As we make out for what feels like too long, I wonder how people like this. To me it just seems kind of gross, but I guess this is supposed to be fun with someone you like. And I do like Jazlyn—I think. 

Suddenly, a voice echoes through the room, causing me to pull away. 

"TJ?"

I turn my head to see Megan standing in the doorway, her face showing her shock clear as day.  _Fuck,_  I think to myself.  _I screwed up._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't hate me. Don't kill me. It's all going to be OKAY. Love you all! Bye!


	6. It Has Character

**TJ's POV**

 

Megan whips around and rushes away. I get up and run after her, forgetting completely about Jazlyn. 

"Megan!" I shout.

She ignores me, marching down the stairs and toward the front door. I hurry to catch up with her, grabbing her wrist to keep her from walking any farther. She turns around and glares at me, which motivates me to let her go immediately. 

"Megan, can I explain," I say. 

She steps up to me, anger sizzling in her words as she says, "There's nothing to explain. You kissed Jazlyn. You made your bed; now you'll lie in it. We're over!"

She spins around, leaving me frozen, unsure what to do next. Am I upset that I don't have to deal with Megan pestering me anymore? No. Am I worried about what she's going to say about me to everyone else who asks about us? Oh, yeah. 

______________________________________

**Cyrus' POV**

 

The employee lounge seems extra chatty today. Buffy doesn't work today, so just Andi, Jonah and I sit down at a table together. I don't care what everyone around me is talking about until I hear TJ's name in the conversation beside me. That makes me pay closer attention to the background noise, and I realize that more people are mentioning his name and Megan's in their chats. 

"What is everyone talking about?" I ask Andi and Jonah. 

Jonah shrugs. "No idea."

"You haven't heard?" Walker says as he takes a seat at our table. 

"Heard what?" I ask. 

"Well, the tea is that TJ, Megan's now ex boyfriend, kissed Jazlyn at Zilo's party last night. Megan walked in and saw."

"That's awful," Andi responds. "How could TJ do that to her?"

I wasn't even thinking about Megan's feelings until Andi brought them up. My mind was more worried about how TJ is handling being the centre of the gossip, rather than how wrong what he did was. I may only talk to him at work, but I didn't think he would do something like that. It confuses me to think about him intentionally hurting Megan in that way. 

As if on cue, I see TJ walk into the lounge. Instantly, all eyes flicker to him, and he hurries toward the lockers, desperately trying to avoid eye contact with anyone. 

"Isn't it terrible?" Andi says to me, and I snap my attention back to her.

I'm not sure how much of the conversation I missed, but I take an educated guess at my answer, saying, "Yeah, terrible."

_____________________________________

TJ and I were assigned to the same game again today. For most of the morning, we've both been too busy with helping guests to talk to each other. Finally after a while, it calms down, and TJ immediately starts plushing the holes in the walls that we ended up taking plush down from. 

"Should I replace the blue with purple or green?" he asks me. "Because there's not enough blue to finish a full line anymore."

I step over to him and inspect the wall. 

"How about we redo it completely so that the purple and green are alternating."

He huffs, but agrees, "Yeah, I guess that would be best."

He starts taking down all of the stuffed dogs in the row at one end, and I go over to the other end to start taking them down from there. 

"So," I say, "how are things going with you?"

TJ lets out a sigh and glances over at me. "Honest?"

I nod. 

"Not too great." He looks back at his hands as he continues pulling the plush pins out of the wall. It's like he's afraid to meet my eyes. "I assume you heard about what happened with me and Jaz."

"Yeah, I heard."

He looks completely torn up about it, but he's doing his best to hold it in. I just want to make him feel better, get his mind off it for a moment. 

"What's your favorite kind of pie?" I ask. 

He glances at me, a little surprised by the question, but it still makes him smile, which was my whole goal.

"I'm not too big on pie, but I do eat pumpkin when it's Thanksgiving," he answers. 

"Well, of course," I say. "Pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving is mandatory, whether or not you like pie."

"What about people with celiac disease?" he questions. 

"Okay, well maybe they don't have to have it."

He chuckles. "Do you have a favorite kind of pie?"

I don't hesitate, having already prepared my answer. "Cherry, because it resembles the blood of my enemies."

He breaks into laughter, which makes me laugh too. Then I reach for the last piece of plush to take it down. At the same time, TJ goes for it, and our hands end up touching. I freeze for a moment, unable to recall what I was doing as the butterflies swirl around my chest. Shifting my eyes up to TJ's, I notice that his are stuck staring at the spot where our hands have come into contact. A second later, he shakes his head and clears his throat as he pulls his hand away. 

"Thanks," he says, "for talking to me, helping me forget about my mess of a life for a moment."

I smile. "I'm glad I can be of service."

He lets out a small chuckle then says, "Hey, do you want to do something after work? We could go get something to eat."

This boy is asking me to hang out with him outside of work? That would mean we're actual friends, not just work friends. 

"Sure," I reply. 

"Cool. Uh, meet me on the patio after your shift. I'll drive."

"You drive?" I say in surprise. 

"Yup. I got my license as soon as I turned 16 in February."

"Huh," I respond. "I picture you driving a Ford Mustang."

"Hmm." 

"Am I right?"

He bites his lip as he grins. "You'll find out."

_______________________________________

**TJ's POV**

 

"You drive a Chevy?" Cyrus exclaims as he sees my car in the parking lot. 

He strolls around my truck, scanning it up and down. I stand with my arms resting on the closed tailgate, watching him examine my pride and joy. 

"Yeah," I say. "It's a little old, but it was my grandpa's. My dad and I fixed it up to make it drivable, but it still needs a bit more work."

"I love it!" he says as he pops his head up for me to see over the top of the truck. 

"You do?"

He walks around to get a better view of me, saying, "Yeah. It has character."

That makes me grin. I think he's the first person who's ever said that.

"Megan was always telling me to scrap it," I explain. 

"Then she didn't appreciate art," he responds. "This looks like it could be the basis of a country song, and it's amazing."

I laugh, realizing how true that statement is. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Do you listen to country music?" he asks. "I have this idea that anyone who drives a truck must also listen to country music, and I don't know where it came from."

"Not regularly, no. Classic rock mostly."

"Hmm. Interesting."

"A good interesting?"

"Always a good interesting," he replies.

I smile as I watch him walk over to open the door to the passenger seat. Being with Cyrus gives me an excitement I never felt with Megan nor Jazlyn. I don't know. Maybe it's all in my head, but I swear it feels different—like there's just more to feel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love all of you! So thank you for reading! Have a lovely rest of your day!


	7. I Think So

**TJ's POV**

 

The air conditioning blasts in my car, blowing my hair around and cooling me off from the hot day. Cyrus smiles from the passenger seat as he gazes out the window at the trees, glancing over at me every once in a while as we talk. 

"So how come you don't drive?" I ask.

"I had a dream once where I ran over a cat while backing up," he explains. "Now I have a deep-set fear of driving."

"At least your self-aware," I say with a chuckle. "Do you think you'll ever get your license?"

"Oh, yeah. I do want to, but I just need to get more comfortable. I'm not in a rush, though. Personally, I enjoy not having to worry about hitting another car when people drive me places instead."

"Ah, so you like to be chauffeured around," I tease. "Are you only wanting to hang out with me so that I'll drive you places?"

"Maybe," he jokes. "Do you not want to drive me places?"

"No, I do," I respond a bit too quickly. _I definitely want to drive him._

"Good," Cyrus says. "Because I like it when you drive me."

That makes me smile.

"You're a much better than my friend, Andi, is," he goes on, "She changes lanes way too suddenly, and she doesn't slow down to go around corners."

"Yeah, my friends aren't the best drivers either," I say. "That was just extra motivation to get my license. But then I ended up having to drive Megan around all the time."

I feel Cyrus' eyes on me as he notices the way my mood fell at the mention of her name. 

"Can I ask you a question?" he says. "Why did you kiss Jazlyn? What happened with Megan?"

I sigh. "I don't know. I think I just stopped feeling anything for her a while ago." _I'm not sure if I ever felt something for her in the first place. Maybe I could like Jazlyn the way I was supposed to like Megan._

"But you know you hurt her," Cyrus says. 

"I fucked up," I admit. "But if you could just see what's happening in my head right now . . . I don't know. I don't know what I was thinking. I didn't want to hurt Megan, but it was like she didn't care about me at all, and Jazlyn did, and . . . I guess I just thought . . . I don't know."

"Do you like Jazlyn?" Cyrus asks. 

"I think so," I respond.

Cyrus just nods and looks back out his window at the buildings and lights as we enter Shadyside. 

"Where are we going, anyway?" he asks. 

"Your choice," I reply. "Where do you want to go?"

"Well, there's a DQ pretty close to here. If you just turn at these lights, you'll see it on the left."

I do as directed and pull into a parking spot in front of the Dairy Queen. The hum of the engine dies as I twist the key and take it out of the ignition. I meet Cyrus outside by the front of my truck, and we start walking toward the restaurant together. 

"Have you ever been to The Spoon?" he asks me.

I shake my head. "What's that?"

He looks offended by my answer, stating, "Only the best diner in all of Shadyside. We'll have to go there sometime. It has the best baby taters."

"What are baby taters?"

"They're tater tots, but never call them that," he says. "You cannot diminish the glory of the baby tater to just another tater tot."

I laugh and reach for the door to hold it open for him. He smiles and accepts the gesture, stepping in before me. 

We stand back from the counter and stare up at the menu to decide our orders. 

"What do you want?" I ask Cyrus, leaning over a little closer to him as I speak. 

"I think a hot fudge sundae," he replies, still looking up at the screens above the counter. 

Then I step up to the till and smile at the woman working behind it. 

"What would you like?" she asks. 

"One cookie dough blizzard," I answer, "and a hot fudge sundae."

She rings up the order, and I pay. After, she goes off to make the ice cream, I turn around to see Cyrus beside me. 

"You didn't have to do that," he says. 

"I know," I say with a shrug. "I wanted to."

Cyrus smiles softly, which triggers a fuzzy feeling inside me. I look away, back to to counter where the woman brings up our ice cream and hands them to us. I follow Cyrus over to a table and sit down across from him. As he digs his spoon into his sundae, I watch the chocolate syrup drizzle down the mountain of white. 

"Can I have some?" I ask, holding my spoon up.

"Is that why you paid for me?" he says with a laugh. "So you could steal my ice cream?"

I grin. "Maybe."

After a second of consideration, he pushes the sundae toward me, and I take a scoop with my spoon. 

"Thanks," I say before eating the spoonful. 

Cyrus brings his ice cream back to him.

"So do you take everyone's food or just mine?" he asks.

I laugh and respond, "Only my friends'."

"So we're friends now?" he says.

"Well, I did spill my guts to you in the car, so . . ."

Cyrus smiles. "Good."

Then he reaches over the table and digs his spoon into my blizzard. As he puts the spoon in his mouth, I chuckle, and he struggles to hold in his own laughter.  

____________________________________

**Cyrus' POV**

 

I find Buffy and Andi out on the employee patio before my shift starts. As I sit down at their table, they both stare at me with piercing eyes. 

"You wouldn't believe what Andi saw yesterday," Buffy says. 

"Yeah," Andi says. "I was on the bus with Jonah, and it was about to leave, so we were wondering where you were. I was about to text you and ask when I looked out my window and saw someone who looked an awful lot like you getting into the truck of a tall, blonde cheater."

_I knew this was coming._

"Look, he's really not a bad person," I argue. "He just did a bad thing, but he feels horrible about it."

"Then why is he going out with Jazlyn now?" Buffy asks. 

_He is? I wasn't aware of this update._

"I don't know," I reply, "but I know he didn't want to hurt Megan. He felt like Megan didn't care about him, and he likes Jazlyn, and he made a mistake."

Buffy and Andi share a glance, then Andi sighs. 

"Cyrus, why do you always have to look for the good in everyone?" Andi asks. 

"Because it's better than finding the bad," I respond. Then I check my watch. "I need to go clock in now. I'll talk to you guys after work."

"So you plan on taking the bus with us today?" Buffy checks. 

"Yes," I confirm. 

I spin around and walk into the lounge. As I go up to the time clock, I see TJ standing against the wall and decide clocking in can wait one more minute. 

"Hey," I say as I lean against the wall beside him. 

"Hey," he responds, putting on a small smile when he sees me.

"So I hear you and Jazlyn are a thing now," I say. 

"We are?"

"Did you not know?"

"Well, now I know," he says. "Girls are weird, man."

"Did you not want to be her boyfriend?" I ask. 

"I—" he pauses. "I guess I did."

"Okay," I respond, then I change the subject. "Do you need to clock in?"

He nods and follows me over to the time clock on the wall. 

Then he holds out his arms, saying, "After you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a lot of emotions happening at once and it's freaking hard to write, but I'm just so into this story right now. Thank you for reading!


	8. Just Look at Me

**TJ's POV**

 

The sign-up sheet for capture the flag is stapled up on the bulletin board next to the work schedules. The returnees have been telling everybody in the department to sign up, saying it's a ton of fun and that there's free food. I inspect the names already on the list, seeing many familiar ones from my department, including Megan's and Jazlyn's, but I don't see Cyrus'. 

All of a sudden, the boy appears next to me, asking, "Are you going to capture the flag?"

I shrug. "I'm not sure. Are you going?"

He reaches up and scribbles his name in blue pen on the list, then he glances at me. 

"Mind if I borrow that pen?" I ask.

He grins and gives it to me, so that I can write my name right underneath his. As I return the pen to him, I look over at the clock.

"Hey, how much time do you have before your shift starts?" I ask. 

"About an hour," Cyrus replies. "Why?"

"Want to go out on park for a while?"

"I do, but I didn't bring my motion sickness patches."

"No problem," I say. "We just won't go on any of the intense rides."

"The carousel qualifies," he states, laughing a little at that. "But I should be okay as long as there are no spinning motions involved."

"Sounds good."

Before heading out on park, we both grab our wallets from our lockers, thinking we may want to buy some food. When we get outside, I notice Megan working at one of the games to my right and make the decision to go left instead. Cyrus follows, unaware of my reason to avoid the other direction. 

"How about the ferris wheel?" I ask him. 

"I'm afraid of heights," he responds. "Humans were not built to be off the ground, and I personally believe we should save that glory for the birds."

"Come on," I say, stopping to face to him. "If you get scared, just look at me, and we'll be back on the ground in no time."

Cyrus smiles, then he takes a breath. "Okay."

I grin, then we continue toward the line up of the ferris wheel. Rather than regular seats, the ride has gondola cages that hang from each beam. Marty happens to be the employee operating it, and I watch as he lets a family out of their carriage. As he steps back to load the next few guests into the cart, I give him a wave, to which he salutes. 

"You know Marty?" Cyrus says. 

"Yeah, we're friends," I reply. "It's funny; we actually had four classes together in middle school, but we never became friends until this year, because I didn't know he existed until then."

"You should be more observant," Cyrus says. 

I smile at him. I never realized that he has gold flecks in his brown eyes, which the sunlight makes more noticeable. 

"Yeah, I'm trying to start doing that," I respond. 

Then it's our turn to get on the ride. I sit down across from Cyrus, watching him take deep breaths as Marty secures our cage closed.

"You okay?" I check.

He nods. "Yeah, I'm fine."

The cage jostles as it lifts into the air and Cyrus looks around at our moving surroundings. 

"Never mind," he says, his face showing his fear. 

On instinct, I reach my arm across and take his hand firm in mine. His deep breathing stops as he stares down at our hands then up at me. 

"It's fine," I assure him. "Just look at me."

He nods, and I smile at him. He keeps his hand locked with mine the entire time we're in the air, and I don't mind. Something about it makes that fuzzy feeling come back, although I can't pinpoint exactly why. 

After it's over, I let him go so that we can get off the ride and step back out onto the path. 

"So does everyone in your family hate rides, or is it just you?" I ask while we walk. 

"Oh, all of my parents are fine with rides," he replies. "I'm the odd one out in the family."

"All your parents?"

"I have four," he explains. "Two parents and two step-parents."

"Wow," I respond with a laugh. "I feel lame. I only have one."

"If you don't mind me asking," he says, "what happened to the other? If you ever had another."

"Yeah, uh, my Mom died when I was eleven," I tell him. "She was an alcoholic and decided to drive one day after drinking. Drove into a tree. That's why I don't drink, no matter how much peer pressure there is. I don't like the idea of altering my brain like that. I don't want to end up like her."

"I'm sorry," Cyrus says. "but hey, if you need an extra parent, I have plenty to share."

I chuckle and throw my arm around his shoulder, pulling him into a side hug before letting him go. As we walk, I spot the pretzel and churro stand across the path. 

"Want a pretzel?" I ask. 

"Sure," Cyrus answers, "but you're not paying for me this time."

We approach the stand, and Cyrus immediately lights up when the girl working there turns to face us. 

"Hey, Andi," Cyrus says. 

"Hi!" Her smile, which appeared at the sight of Cyrus, becomes a lot more forced when her eyes shift to me. "What can I get you?"

"Two pretzels," Cyrus replies. 

"Actually," Andi says, "I kinda only have one left. I ran out and forgot to tell my leaders to bring over more until about a minute ago, so it will be maybe ten minutes."

"Really, Andi?" Cyrus responds in annoyance. 

"Sorry," she says. "I'm dumb and wasn't paying attention."

"You're not dumb," Cyrus corrects her. 

"That's okay," I say. "We can just share one."

"Are you sure?" Cyrus asks me. 

"Yeah, of course."

He gives me a smile then turns back to Andi.

"One pretzel it is," she says. 

_____________________________________

**Cyrus' POV**

 

I look out the window at the townhouse as TJ pulls up in front of it. It's a humble home, painted entirely white like the others around it. The engine cuts out, and TJ unbuckles his seatbelt to get out of the truck, while I do the same. 

"So this is where you live," I say as I walk around the vehicle to join him.

"Is it not what you imagined?" he asks. 

"No, I didn't really have a picture in my mind," I respond. "I think I just assumed you lived at a basketball court or something."

He laughs, stepping up to unlock the door to his home. As I enter, I am instantly hit with a very lively interior in contrast to the outside appearance of the townhouse. Paper snowflakes dangle from the ceiling by yarn. Over the living room window, strings of beads are tied into two tails, framing the view of outside. Knick-knacks clutter the shelves, and the couch is covered in far too many pillows of various colours and patterns. 

"My sister likes to do crafts," TJ says. "She made the snowflakes last night."

"You have a sister?"

"Yeah, her name's Lizzie."

She must've heard her name from upstairs, because the girl, who looks to be around seven or eight, comes running down right as TJ mentions her, jumping over the last few steps. When she hits to floor, she looks up at me with a grin. 

"Is this Cyrus?" she asks. 

I glance over at TJ.  _TJ's told her about me?_

"Yeah, this is him," TJ confirms. 

"I like your snowflakes," I tell Lizzie. 

She smiles even wider at that. "Thank you!" she chirps. "I can show you how to make them!"

"That's okay," TJ replies for me. "We're gonna take the TV."

Lizzie ignores him, looking up at me instead.

"Another time," I say.

She nods, a little disappointed, but as she starts back up the stairs, she looks back to say, "Promise?"

"Promise," I respond. 

The girl grins again and runs the rest of the way up to the second floor. When she's gone, I turn to TJ who's looking at me with a smile on his face. 

"You know she's going to remember that," he says. 

"That's okay," I respond. 

Then he leads me into the living room and sits down next to me on the couch before opening Netflix on the TV.

"What do you want to watch?" he asks. 

"Doesn't matter," I respond. 

As he scrolls through the options, I think about how nice it is outside, which leads to me thinking about work, which reminds me of how I saw Megan working at Bottle Toss today. 

"Hey, how are things with Jazlyn?" I wonder. 

TJ shrugs. "Fine, I guess. I mean, she texts me a lot, and we hang out. Things aren't too great for her, though. Apparently, Megan's being shit-talking about her to the other people in games, calling her a slut and stuff."

"That's not good," I say.

"No. She doesn't deserve it. It's my fault. I did all of this."

"TJ," I say, "you made a mistake. You have to forgive yourself eventually."

He sets the remote down on the coffee table in front of us and puts his hands on his face, his elbow resting on his knees. 

"I know," he says. "It just doesn't feel right." He lowers his hands and looks over at me. "Something about this whole situation just isn't sitting right with me. That's why I like hanging out with you. I can just forget about all of that drama for a moment." 

I smile. 

All of a sudden, the front door rattles and bursts open, allowing a grey-haired man to walk in. 

"Hello," he says when he sees us. 

"Hi, Mister . . ."

"Kippen," he finishes for me. "You must be Cyrus."

"That is correct."

"Well, it's good to meet you." Then his eyes switch over to look a TJ. "What do you want for supper?"

"Anything's fine," TJ answers.

"Okay," Mr. Kippen responds. "Cyrus, why don't you stay for dinner?"

"Uh . . ." I give TJ and glance. "Sure, why not."

"Great!" Mr. Kippen says. "It'll be about thirty minutes."

As he leaves the room, TJ looks at me with a grin. 

"You're already like part of the family," he says. 

"Yeah, I guess," I respond, smiling right back. 


	9. Capture the Flag

**TJ's POV**

 

After getting our food, Marty, Jazlyn, and I sit down at an empty table on The Pier. Tonight is the first employee night: the capture the flag. Not all of the park's employees decided to come, but there's a decent amount here. As Marty starts talking to us about where he worked today, my sight catches on Cyrus who's walking down the path, toward the lineup for food. When he sees me, he gives me a smile and I wave back. 

"Where were you at today?" Marty asks me. 

"Um, I was at Slam Dunk," I answer. "There was this one kid today who was only about six or so, but he threw one of the balls and it went straight into the net."

"That's lucky," Jazlyn says. 

"I know. I was so impressed, and he was really excited. It was pretty cute."

"I wish I had someone like that today," Jazlyn says. "I had a weird guest, though. This woman got mad at me, because, when her kid lost my game, she said I wasn't teaching her kid how to gamble properly." 

"What?" Marty responds with a laugh. 

"That's what I was thinking!" Jazlyn agrees. "Like, your kid lost. That's exactly how gambling works."

We all chuckle. 

All of a sudden, I see Megan as she strolls near our table. On her way by, she holds her plate out to let it knock over Jazlyn's can of pop, causing it to spill across the table and onto Jazlyn's lap. Jazlyn gasps in shock and glares up at Megan. 

"Oops," Megan says. "My bad."

Then she gives Jazlyn a smirk and continues by our table. 

"I'll help you grab napkins," I say to Jazlyn.

She nods, and we both go up to the table of napkins and cutlery together. She takes a few napkins and starts wiping at the orange liquid on her thigh. 

"Is it going to stain?" I ask. 

She shakes her head. "It'll be fine. Not a lot got on me." She continues dabbing at her jeans as she lets out an exasperated sigh. "God, Megan's such a bitch."

"Yeah," I mutter. 

Then she throws the used napkins into the trash can next to the table and comes back to me, resting her hands on my upper arms. 

"On the bright side," she says, "although she may be bitter about it, I'm the one who has you."

I get the cue that I'm supposed to kiss her now, so I do. After, she lets me go again and reaches to collect a few more napkins. 

"Thanks for helping me clean up," she says.

I take a stack of napkins to carry back to our table as well, and we both get to work at drying the table and bench. After it's all cleaned up, we finish eating our dinners with Marty. Once we're done with that, I pick up both Jazlyn's plate of garbage and mine from the table.

"I've got it," I say, and she smiles in response.

As I walk over to the four waste bins, I scan the crowd for the face whom I know can help me out. Once I find him, I stare until he notices me, which doesn't take very long. I pick up the popsicle wrappers from the two plates and hold them out over the mixed recycling. Cyrus shakes his head and points to my left, so I move the crinkly plastic over top of the garbage. He smiles and nods, and I drop the wrappers in. We continue to do that for the rest of the items on my plates, him directing me from afar. 

After everything's thrown away, a booming voice projects through the speakers, and I look over to see one of the managers of the park talking over a microphone. 

"Okay!" she says. "I see most people are about finished eating, so I'm going to start explaining the rules for how capture the flag will work tonight. So we'll have two teams. Rides and foods will be together on one. Games, retail, and everyone else will be on the other."

_____________________________________

The park has been divided into two sides using chalk lines on the ground. One side belongs to my team, the green team, and the other belongs to the blue team. Each side has four flag stations, which are all being monitored by leaders and managers of the park to make sure nobody tries to cheat. 

"We should go over," Jazlyn says as she walks beside me. "Try to get some flags. But there are people watching every boundary like hawks."

We step around the candy store building and peek out at the border between our side and the other team's. 

"There are only three people at this one," I say. "You could probably make it over if you run fast. I'll stay here and play defence."

"Okay," she responds with a nod. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck."

She waits a minute before dashing out, across the boundary. When she manages to make it past all three members of the other team, I cheer and clap a few times. Then I spin around to go guard a different boundary with less of our teammates already there. As I walk down the pathway, I spot Cyrus standing by one of the flag stations. I decide to stop and see what he's up to. 

"Playing defence, are you?" I say. 

He nods. "I don't try to run across. I'll just get tagged right away anyway."

"Well, you should try at least once. You'll regret it of you don't."

"TJ, this is capture the flag, not applying to college," he responds, which makes me laugh. "I'm perfectly happy with being defence. Besides, I'm great at it."

At that moment, a boy with blue tape on his clothes zips past us and grabs a flag from the circle on the ground before darting away in the opposite direction from us. Cyrus stares at him as he disappears from sight, and I fold my arms over my chest. 

"You were saying?"

"Okay, fine," he says. "But if I get tagged, you're coming to jail with me."

I grin and put my hand on his shoulder as I start leading him toward a boundary I know won't have good coverage from the other side. After a second, I drop my hand again. 

"So how are you actually planning to get me across without being tagged?" he asks. "I'm pretty sure anybody will be able to catch up with me if I try to run past them."

"I saw somewhere earlier that isn't being watched by many people."

"And where would that be?"

I lead him down the path, toward the chalk line, which lies between two giant planters next to the entrance to the pink roller coaster. I grab his hand to pull him down behind one of the planters when I see that there are one person from the other team guarding the line. 

"Okay," I whisper. "We're going to run. Do you remember where the flag station is?"

Cyrus nods. 

"On three. One. Two. Three!"

We both dart out and across the boundary. Because we catch the defender off guard, it takes her a second to realize what's happening before she starts chasing after us. As Cyrus and I turn a corner, I notice a thin pathway between two restaurants and grab Cyrus' hand to pull him down it. We wind around between a few trees, then I pull him behind a game building, and we watch silently as the chaser runs past the game, not sure anymore about where we went. When she's gone, Cyrus lets out the breath he was holding in in the form of a laugh. 

"Nice job," I tell him. "Just a bit farther."

"Okay. I think I can do it."

"I think you can too."

He smiles then turns around and steps out from the cover of the game. Right when I get a clear view of the path beside it, I spot a person there, and reach for Cyrus' hand to tug him back behind the game. I guess I pulled two hard, because he topples over, causing me to fall down with him. I land on top on him on the cement bricks, and we both start laughing. 

I place my hands on the ground to start getting up, but when my eyes catch on his, something happens inside me and I freeze. As he gazes up at me, I feel some kind of force pulling me closer, and then I feel myself leaning down, and pretty soon our faces are only inches away. 

And then I hear a voice in the distance shout, "TJ!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I love you all! Yes, this story is long. There's a lot to it. Bye!


	10. You Can Say Pretty

**TJ's POV**   
  
  


The voice startles me, and I quickly push myself up onto my feet. Cyrus gets up beside, and I avoid looking him in the eyes, not sure exactly what just happened.  _That was nothing, right? That couldn't have been anything. There's no way I wanted to do that—kiss him. I couldn't have. I like Jazlyn . . . right?_

Suddenly, the owner of the voice comes running around the corner of the game, and Jazlyn looks at me with a puzzled expression.

"I thought you were gonna stay on the other side."

Her eyes flicker to Cyrus, but disregard him almost instantly and turn back to me.

"Yeah, I was," I respond. "But then I saw Cyrus and wanted to help him get a flag."

"Oh . . . kay," she says, clearly not fully satisfied with the answer.

All of a sudden, a hand taps my back, and I spin around to see a boy standing there.

"You guys are out. Go to jail," he says and tags Cyrus and Jazlyn, not even causing them to flinch. I think we're all a little tired of running.

______________________________________

**Cyrus' POV**   
  
  


As I turn into the employee lounge, I immediately see Andi, Buffy, and Jonah all sitting at a table. When Andi sees me, she waves me over, and I follow her command.

"How was the game?" she asks. "I assume you stayed on your team's side the whole time."

"Most of it," I respond.

"Wait, you crossed into our zone?" Jonah says in surprise.

"Since when do you play offence in anything?" Buffy wonders with a laugh.

"Since TJ convinced me to," I reply.

"Oh," Andi says, dragging the word out as though she just had a realization. "So you were with TJ the whole time."

"Not all of it," I correct. "Just the second half."

Her and Buffy share a glance, then Buffy catches me off guard by saying, "You don't like him, do you? I mean like like him?"

"No," I reply. "Why would you think that?"

"Because you two spend a ton of time together, and you always tell us about him," Andi says. "Look we just don't want you getting hurt."

"I know," I say. "TJ's straight, and I know that."

"Okay, sure," Buffy responds, "but even I know that it's hard not to like a guy who has that perfect smile and those deep blue eyes—"

"Green," I cut in. Then a little quieter: "His eyes are green."

They give each other a look again, and I know what they're thinking. But they're wrong. I never realized his eyes were green until tonight when he . . . Well, I'm not sure what he did exactly. If I didn't know any better, I would've thought he was about to kiss me. And deep down, sure, I did want him to kiss me. But I know that's just a fantasy. I know he would never like me back.

"Okay, then," Buffy says, giving my hand a gentle pat with hers. "Just try not to fall harder than you can recover from."

_That's great advice. I really hope my heart decides to follow it._

_______________________________________

It's been a couple weeks since the capture the flag, and TJ hasn't brought up what happened there, so I guess I was right to assume it was nothing. 

We're both currently filling the plush display of our game, trying to figure out a pattern using the limited supply of plush we have at the moment. After some more rearranging, we finally give up.

I sigh. "Okay, let's just leave the ducks off the wall," I suggest. "There aren't enough of them to even mix them into a row."

"Good idea," he responds.

As we start taking down the stuffed ducks that have been put up in awkward places, one of our leaders, Cassidy, approaches the game. and TJ and I turn around at the sound of her voice.

"Need more plush?" she asks us.

"Yeah," TJ replies. "Are there anymore ducks?"

"Unfortunately, no," she answers.

"Then I guess we'll make do," TJ says. 

"I'm sure it'll look great!" she chirps. "Anyway, I wanted to let you guys know about the next employee night. We're opening the rides for all the employees to go on after hours. Should I sign you up?"

TJ meets my glance with a smile.

"Are you going?" he asks me.

"I probably will," I reply, "if you're also going."

He looks back to Cassidy. "Yeah, sign me up."

"Awesome!"

She gives us a smile before walking away to the next game. Then someone else approaches our game, and TJ walks over to the counter to greet the guest. While he helps the lady, I continue plushing the wall, but I look back again when I hear the guest's odd request for her change. 

"I'll give you a eight dollars," she says. "Can you give me back just a five?"

I watch as TJ stares at the money in his hand for a moment. 

"The game's only three dollars," he tells the woman. 

"Yes, so give me back a five."

TJ stares at the bills for a few more seconds. When I notice his face start to show his frustration, I walk over and touch each bill in his hand with my index finger as I explain the math. 

"She gave you eight one-dollar bills," I tell him in a gentle voice. "This game costs three. So put five dollars in your float, then take out a five-dollar bill to give as change. The last three dollars go in the revenue box."

He makes and 'O' shape with his mouth when he finally understands what to do. Then he follows my instructions and gives the woman the five-dollar bill. 

"Sorry," he says to her. 

"It's okay," she responds, her tone flat. 

TJ explains the rules of the game to her, and the woman plays. Unfortunately, she doesn't succeed in throwing a ball into a cup, and walks away without a prize to go try another game. After she's gone, I step over to TJ who has immediately returned to plushing the wall.

"What happened there?" I ask. "With the money."

He sighs. "I—I have this learning disability," he says as he turns to face me. "Dyscalculia. It usually isn't a problem, because I've had a lot of practice with money, but weird requests like that throw me off."

"Don't feel bad," I say. "It confused me at first, too." 

He gives me a smile, then says, "You know, I've never told anyone that besides my family and teachers."

"Not even Megan or Jazlyn?" I wonder. 

He shakes his head. 

"Well, I'm honoured that you trust me with this."

"Yeah," he says, "I do. And you trust me, right?"

The question reminds me of what I'm not telling him. 

"Yeah, of course," I reply, feeling a little guilty.

I do trust him, and I want to tell him what I've been keeping from him. I want to come out to him, but I don't want it to be a big deal, and right now feels like a big moment. I'll tell him soon, but not now. 

____________________________________

Today we're both working together again, this time at Bottle Toss. Usually, this game is constantly lined up, but the dark clouds overhead have prevented most people from coming to the park for fear that it's going to rain. It hasn't rained yet, but TJ and I both wear our park hoodies to block out the chilly air.

After TJ and I finish helping one family play, we lean over the edge of the table of bottles to start picking out the rings from between the glass. I glance up at him every once in a while, each time, the words are so close to the tip of my tongue, but they dissolve away when I see his face.  _What if he doesn't want to be my friend anymore? Well, then I guess he doesn't deserve to be my friend._ Even knowing that, the thought of him not wanting to be around me anymore causes my stomach to twist.  _But I want to tell him so badly._

"How are things with Jazlyn?" I ask instead. 

He looks up and replies, "Fine, I guess. Her and Megan are still at each other's throats, but that's pretty normal at this point."

"Oh," I respond. 

My brain can't seem to find anything more to say to do with that conversation. It seems hooked on the two words I can't get my mouth to say. So instead of saying them, I ask a question. 

"What's the hardest thing you've ever had to tell anyone?" 

TJ drops the rings from his hand into the bucket on the floor and contemplates his answer. 

"I'm not sure," he says. "I broke my parents' TV once. That was hard to tell them."

I try to laugh along with him, but the hands in my chest are squeezing my lungs, keeping any sound from coming out. 

"What about you?" he asks.

His eyes meet mine, making me feel even more queasy.  _This is so much easier to tell people when I don't care about the person I'm telling._

"Um . . . That I . . . I'm gay."

 

**TJ's POV**

 

 _He's gay. He's gay. He's gay . . . Why does that make me feel weird? It has nothing to do with me._  Yet for some reason, it makes my stomach spiral around and my breath catch in my chest as I process the sentence. 

"Neat," I finally respond. 

He smiles and releases a breath. "Awesome."

"Yeah."

"That was easier than I made it out to be in my head," he says as he steps around to drop a handful of plastic rings into the bucket by my feet. 

"Did you think I wouldn't be okay with it?" I ask.

"I don't know," he says. "There's always that fear no matter who I'm telling."

He looks up at me, and I notice the gold specks again. It reminds me of honeycomb, the way the colours in his eyes swirl together. 

"You have—" I quickly catch myself, altering what I was about to say "—I want to say pretty eyes, but, like, no homo, so I'll just say they're . . . cool."

"Thanks," he says. "But you can say pretty. I wouldn't have thought anything of it."

"Okay," I respond.  _But I'm thinking something of it._

I don't know what it is about him. There's just something there that I've never felt before, and I'm not really sure how to describe it. 

He smiles at me before walking back to the other side of the game to continue picking up rings, but something in my head desperately wants him to come back to my side. Not even Jazlyn makes me feel this way, but I can't like him more than Jazlyn. He's a boy—unless . . .  _Am I gay?_

No, I can't be. That doesn't make any sense. I've never felt this way about a guy before. 

_I've never felt this way about anyone before._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof, finally. I was trying to work on writing a paper, but I ended up making memes instead. 10/10 life choices right there. Thanks for reading! I love you all so much!


	11. She's Your Girlfriend

**TJ's POV**   
  
  


Jazlyn holds tight onto my arm as we walk side by side, trailing along behind a group of her friends and some of mine, including Marty who is currently arguing with a couple of other guys about what ride to go on next.

So far, I've been with Jazlyn the whole employee night, and I'm having fun, but I can't help but wonder what Cyrus is doing right now. But I should be paying attention to Jazlyn.  _She's a really great girlfriend, and I'm lucky to have her. She's really funny and kind and . . . not Cyrus._

"How about the log ride!" Marty shouts.

"I don't want to get wet!" another girl responds.

"Nobody asked you, Abbey," says Chris.

A couple of the girls giggle as Abbey gives Chris a punch on the shoulder, which doesn't stop his own laughter.

"Awesome!" Marty says. "Log ride it is!"

Jazlyn pulls me along, and we follow the group into the line. Once we've packed our large group into the thin line, Jazlyn lets go of my arm.

"Are you okay?" she asks me. "You seem a little off."

"What? Yeah, I'm fine," I lie.

_She's caring. That's another great thing about her. That's also another thing she has in common with Cyrus._

"Okay," she says, but the concern on her face suggests that she doesn't believe me.

After waiting through the line, we hop into a log, and Jazlyn sits in front of me. When it's over, we climb out of the boat soaking wet and go over to join the rest of our dripping friends on the path. 

Immediately, they begin to talk about what ride to go on next. The group settles on Sky Surfer, which is basically a ride where you sit in a cart that sways from side to side as it goes around the centre axis of the machine.

We begin walking in the direction of the ride, but as we pass by the swinging pirate ship ride, I notice Cyrus sitting alone on a bench facing the attraction. Since Jazlyn's no longer holding onto me, I decide to stop by quickly to see what's up.

Quietly, I sneak up from behind and wrap my arms around him, causing him to flinch. His head whips around in fright, but I just start laughing.

"Why are you all wet?" Cyrus asks, laughing along with me.

"I just came off the log ride."

I climb over the top of the bench and plop down beside him.

"Why are you waiting here?" I ask. "Did you forget your motion sickness patches again?"

"No, I have them, but I'd be putting a whole lot of faith in them if I tried going on this ride."

He looks up at the tall boat as it flings from side to side, from up to down to back up again.

"Well, you can't just sit here," I say. Then I stand up and reach for his hands to pull him up too. "Come join me and my friends. We're going on Sky Surfer."

"Are you sure?" he asks. "I don't want to intrude on your friend group."

"It's not intruding if I want you there."

He gives me a soft smile, and I pull his hand along toward the ride where my friends are already waiting in line. I let him go as we enter the ride lineup, and Cyrus stares up at the ride as it operates.

"I forgot that this ride had spinning involved," he mutters.

"Don't worry," I say, taking his hand in mine again. "I'll be right next to you the whole time."

His smile is broken by Jazlyn's voice shouting, "TJ, come up to join me!"

I glance back at Cyrus, and he nods in understanding, saying, "She's your girlfriend. You should sit with her."

 _Right. She's my girlfriend._ I turn around to squeeze through to the front of the lineup where Jazlyn is waiting for me.

After the rules of the ride are explained by leader working it, Jazlyn pulls me by the hand into the ride area.

"Which cart do you want?" she asks me.

I scan all of my options. I want the cart Cyrus is in, that's which one. I settle for my second choice, which means stalling by pretending to contemplate my answer just long enough to see Cyrus get in a cart with Marty.

"That one," I say, pointing to the one four carts behind Cyrus'. It has a perfect view of the boy from the side, while not being so far that I'd have to turn my head to see him. This way, I'll at least be able to watch him during the ride, even if I can't be with him.

After getting buckled in, the ride begins, and I hear Jazlyn cheering and screaming beside me, but my eyes are on Cyrus the whole time, watching him laugh with Marty as he loosens up and enjoys the ride.

Once it's over, we all gather back out on the path. Jazlyn puts her hand around my arm again, but that doesn't stop me from going over to Cyrus, dragging her along with me.

"Did you have fun?" I ask Cyrus.

"Yeah, it was better than I expected."

As my eyes stay on him, his trace my shape down then back up again, reconnecting with mine as he gives me a shy smile.

Then I feel a tug on my arm.

"Come on," Jazlyn says. "We're going on the roller coaster."

I immediately, glance back to Cyrus who shakes his head.

"I think I'm going to sit this one out," he says. "Every time I go on it I remember how terrifying it is."

Jazlyn pulls on my arm again, saying, "Come on, TJ. Everyone's getting in line."

I turn to Jazlyn and respond, "Actually, you go on without me. I'm gonna wait here with Cyrus."

She furrows her brows in confusion as she lets me go.

"Oh . . . kay," she mumbles before spinning around and taking off toward the roller coaster.

"You didn't have to do that," Cyrus says.

"I know," I respond with a smile. "I wanted to."

Then I throw my arm around Cyrus' shoulder and start walking.

"So what ride do you want to go on instead?" I ask.

"Hmm." Cyrus gazes around at our surroundings. "Maybe the swing ride. That one should be okay as long as I don't look down."

I let out a chuckle before removing my arm, thinking it might've been around him for too long.

When we approach the ride lineup, Cyrus stops me by putting his hand on my shoulder and using it as a balance support as he takes off his shoe and tips it upside down.

"There was a rock in my shoe," he explains as he slides the sneaker back on.

"How did you manage that?" I ask with a laugh. "There aren't even any rocks around here."

Cyrus shakes his head. "It's an unfortunate talent of mine."

I turn to walk through the line up, a grin on my face the whole time.  _This boy is like no one else I've ever met before._

When it's time to pick our swings, I sit down in the one next to Cyrus. I watch him smile throughout the entire ride, and he glances over to meet my eyes every once in a while. At the end, we step out of the ride area together and start walking down the path again.

"Are there anymore rides you want to go on?" I ask Cyrus.

He looks around, but his eyes stop on the The Pier. A few groups of kids sit at the tables, holding bags of popcorn and cotton candy that are being given out by a couple of leaders from other tables nearby.

"I could go for cotton candy instead," Cyrus answers.

Then he takes my hand, his touch causing butterflies to flutter up behind my ribcage, and pulls me toward the tables of treats. He doesn't have to pull me; I'd follow him anywhere he wants to go.

When we get to the snack tables, I take one of the clear, plastic bags of blue cotton candy, and he chooses pink. We both open up our bags, but neither of us take any out yet. Instead, Cyrus' eyes meet mine, and both of our hands cross paths as we reach into each others bags of candy floss, laughing. I take a bite out of the puff of pink, and he does the same with his piece of blue.

After eating the chunk of fluff, Cyrus walks over to sit down at one of the tables, and I join him. As we eat our cotton candy, I tune in to the song playing over the park speakers: "Reason For Waiting" by Jethro Tull.

"I love this song," I say.

Cyrus pauses to listen to the music, then responds, "I don't know it."

"Really?"

"I don't listen to this kind of stuff."

"What? You don't have the same music taste as me?" I says with a laugh. "Shameful."

He grins. "You have the same taste as my parents. They wanted to play old music like this at my Bar Mitzvah, but you can't really dance to this."

"First of all," I say. "You can definitely dance to this. And second, you dance?"

Cyrus shakes his head. "No, it was only that one time, because Buffy and Andi wanted me to. And also for middle school P.E., but that's a story for another time."

I chuckle at the thought of him doing dance for gym class.

"I wish I could've seen it," I say.

I wish I could've seen a lot of times in his life. I wish I could've met him a lot sooner than now.

_____________________________________

Throughout the rest of the employee night, Cyrus and I stay talking at The Pier. I like learning about him. He can make even the dullest stories sound interesting.

"Hey, TJ!" comes Jazlyn's voice.

I break my eyes away from Cyrus to see her.

"Oh, hey," I say.

"Ride night's over," she says.

"Really?" Then I turn my head to Cyrus. "Do you want a ride home?"

His eyes flicker over to Jazlyn, then settle back on me as he shakes his head.

"That's okay," he says with a small smile. "Thanks, though."

"Oh, okay."

I wave to him as he gets up and leaves. Now it's just Jazlyn and I, and she's glaring at me with a scowl on her face.

"What's up with you?" she says. "You were off with Cyrus the whole night! I'm your girlfriend, but you sure give him a lot more attention than you give me. Do you even want to be my boyfriend?"

I shoot up onto my feet, saying, "Of course I do!" The words taste bitter in my mouth. I'm not sure what I want at this point, but I can't break her heart. "I'm sorry. I promise I'll start giving you more attention. I want to be with you."  _But do I?_

She takes a breath and reaches for my hand. "Okay."

Then she leans in and presses her lips to mine. And at this moment, the moment when I realize I would give anything for Cyrus to be the one kissing me right now instead of her, every question I previously had gets answered, and there's only one very loud thought echoing through my head:  _Oh, shit. I'm gay._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another long chapter. I hope you are all satisfied. Things are 'bout to go down. Stay tuned. Thanks for reading! Love you all!


	12. You're Shaking

**TJ's POV**  
  
  


As I walk into the lounge the morning after ride night, I'm already wiped out. I hardly slept last night; I was up thinking about Cyrus and how I'm going to tell him everything I need to say. I also analyzed my situation with Jazlyn, coming to the conclusion that I have to break up with her before I can tell Cyrus anything.

This knowledge makes it ten times more uncomfortable when she spots me and waves. When she starts walking toward me, I panic and hurry toward the lockers to avoid her. I know I need to talk to her at some point, but the knot in my stomach is telling me that now is not that time.

After stuffing my bag into a locker, I spin around to go clock in, but my eyes stop on Cyrus, and I feel my heart pick up speed. He's putting away his own things at one of the lockers and hasn't seen me. I so badly want to go up and kiss him right here, right now, but I know that wouldn't be a good idea, so instead of risking doing something I'll regret by going up to talk to him, I rush out of the locker area and go straight to the time clock.

"Yo," Marty says as I zip past him.

I stop at his greeting and turn around to give him a smile.

"Doing okay?" he asks. "You seem kinda stressed."

"You could say that," I mutter, then force the topic off of me. "How are you?"

"Not bad," he responds. "Buffy and I went to The Spoon last night after the employee night."

With all of my own troubles, I forgot that him and Buffy were a thing.

"Cool, cool. Sorry, my mind is kinda elsewhere right now," I confess. "I've got to clock in, but text me about it after work."

"Yeah, no problem."

I turn around and go toward the time clock. I press my thumb to the fingerprint scanner, thankful for once that Cyrus and I are not working at the same game.

_______________________________________

At back gate, Nia scans my ID card, and I give her a nod.

"Thanks."

"No problem," she says. "See ya."

I step out onto the pavement and scan the hill by the busses, searching for the person I need to find. I spot her sitting with her friends and immediately walk up.

 _No second thoughts. No thinking. Just do it._ I should be a spokesperson for Nike—if I actually follow through with this, that is,

"Jazlyn, can I talk to you?" I say, interrupting her friend's story.

She glances up at me with a frown. "So now you want to talk to me? You didn't seem to want to this morning."

I flicker my sight to her friends then back to her, saying, "Please, can we talk."

"Fine," she says.

She stands up and follows me over to the cluster of trees at the top of the hill. I'd rather not risk having other people overhear our conversation.

"What?" she asks, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I . . ."  _Do it, TJ. It's not that hard._  "I want to break up."  _A little blunt, but I guess it did what it needed to._

She steps back, her face showing her shock.

"You're breaking up with me?" she snaps. "Are you kidding? I've been nothing but good to you. You're the one who's been being a jerk. I should be breaking up with you."

"Okay," I say, not exactly mad about it. "Then you can break up with me."

"What happened?" she asks, disregarding my suggestion. "Everything was going great until recently."

"I—I realized—um . . ." I haven't told anyone yet, and I don't really want her to be the first to know. I want that person to be Cyrus. "I just don't think we work that well together. Can we just be friends?"

"Well, we can definitely break up," she says. "But be friends? I wouldn't hold my breath."

She gives me one last glare before spinning around and strutting back down the hill to rejoin her friends.

Well, that probably could've gone better. However, considering the circumstances, I don't see how. But I don't have a girlfriend anymore, and that's what matters.

I walk across the grass and look around for the boy I need to see next. When I find him sitting in a circle with his friends, I go over.

"Cyrus," I say.

When he turns to see me, my heart suddenly starts thumping again.  _God, I haven't even told him anything yet, but I'm already terrified._

"Can I give you a ride home?" I ask, trying not to let my unsteady breathing affect the audibility my words.

Cyrus smiles. "I was wondering why you hadn't asked yet."

He reaches out and I take his hand to pull him up. As I do, I feel entire body go numb for a second, and I worry that I'm going to drop him. Fortunately, I don't, and he waves to his friends before we start walking together to my car, his shoulder brushing against mine.

"So," Cyrus chirps, "where were you working today?"

"Uh, Down The Clown," I answer.

"Oh, cool."

I click the button on my key to unlock my car, then reach for the door, and Cyrus climbs into the passenger side.

"What about you?" I ask as I pull my seatbelt across my body.

My hands shake, causing me to miss the buckle, but I manage to click the seatbelt in after two tries.

"I was with Walker at Spill The Beans."

"Cool."

The key taps the metal around the ignition as I attempt to fit it in. Finally, I get it, and the truck roars to life.

"Are you okay?" Cyrus asks. "You're, like, shaking."

"I'm fine," I lie.

I take a breath to try to steady my pulse, but it doesn't work, so I just shift the gear into drive and hope that the nerves will fade as I start driving. It doesn't fully calm my heartbeat, but I do stop shaking, since I now have to focus more on the road, leaving less mental space to think about Cyrus sitting beside me.

As we exit the parking lot and roll onto the highway, I muster up all the confidence in my body and say, "Cyrus, I need to tell you something." I open my mouth again to try to tell Cyrus what I need to say, but nothing comes out, so I instead ask, "What's your opinion on snow cones?"  _Why is that what came to my head?_

He lets out a small laugh before answering, "I like them, but who doesn't?"

"That's true," I say. "They're just ice and syrup. Not much to dislike."

"Is that what you wanted to tell me?"

"No, I . . ." Again, I can't get the words out. "I used to have a snow cone maker when I was young," I say. "My cousins and I would make them on hot days, but we always put way too much syrup on them. My dad would still eat them, though, because we were only, like, six, and how can you tell a six year-old that they suck at making snow cones."

He laughs. "That's cute." 

His words make me smile, and I feel my face heat up. Then he speaks again, making my breath catch in my chest. 

"I can see why so many girls like you if you say cute stories like this to them, too."

I feel my heart begin to pound again like a bass drum inside my ears.

"Cyrus, I—I . . ." No words. "I'm . . ."  _Fuck it._

I veer the truck over to the right, not bothering to turn my blinker on. Cyrus stares as me, confused, as I put the car in park on the side of the highway.

Then I unbuckle my seatbelt and lean over the centre console of the car. When our lips connect, I feel an electric pulse fire through my veins, and the blood pumping in my ears quiets as Cyrus softens into the kiss. His hand finds mine while the movements of our mouths synchronize as though we're both listening to the same song.  _This is so much better than with any girl. This is real._

When our lips float apart, his eyes lock with mine, and we stay like that for a moment, just staring at each other, his hand intertwined with mine. 

Then he speaks. "What about Jazlyn?"

"I broke up with her," I reply. 

He nods, then contemplates for a moment before saying, "So . . . you like me?"

I nod, my feeling my breath switch in and out with my heartbeat. 

His smile makes the fuzziness blossom inside me again as he says, "Can I kiss you again?"

I grin and lean in to return my lips back to his, back where they belong. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, well, I can't believe I just wrote that; I'm quaking. I hope y'all liked this chapter as much as I did. Thanks for reading!


	13. Okay

**Cyrus' POV**   
  
  


I wake up to a beep, not from my alarm clock, but from my phone blowing up with texts from the group chat.

 **Andi:**  Hey, don't you have work today?

 **Buffy:**  Cyrus!

 **Jonah:**  Are you taking the bus today?

 **Buffy:** The bus is leaving!

 **Andi:** Where are you?

 **Buffy:**  Are you asleep?

 **Buffy:**  WAKE UP!

 **Andi:** The bus just left. I hope you can get to work somehow.

 **Jonah:**  Sorry, man.

I quickly unlock my phone to text back, even though those texts were sent about fifteen minutes ago.

 **Cyrus:** TJ's giving me a ride.

I get a response almost instantly, and I read it as I roll out of bed.

 **Buffy:**  So he drives you in the morning now, too?

 **Cyrus:**  Yeah, he'll probably be driving me most mornings that we both work together from now on.

 **Jonah:**  So we won't see you on the bus as much?

 **Cyrus:**  You will on the days when I work and he doesn't.

 **Andi:**  When did you decide this?

 **Cyrus:**  Yesterday.

 **Jonah:**  What happened yesterday?

The memory brings a smile to my face.

 **Cyrus:**  We kissed.

 **Buffy:** What?

 **Cyrus:**  And before you ask about it, he already broke up with Jazlyn.

 **Andi:**  Good.

 **Andi:**  YOU KISSED?

 **Buffy:** Wait, who kissed who?

 **Cyrus:** He kissed me.

 **Buffy:** HE KISSED YOU?

 **Jonah:** About time.

 **Andi:** Jonah!

 **Jonah:** Did you not see how he basically ignored his girlfriend when he was with Cyrus?

All of a sudden, I get a text from TJ.

 **TJ:** Be there in 15.

 **Cyrus:**  Sounds good.

I switch back to the group chat.

 **Cyrus:**  I've got to get ready. I'll see you guys at work.   
  
I put my phone down and go to the bathroom to do my hygiene routine. After that, I get dressed in my uniform and go downstairs to get breakfast. I see my mom in the kitchen while I pour a bowl of cereal and starting munching away. 

"Good morning," my mom says. 

"Hi," I respond with a full mouth. 

"You're up late today," she mentions as she bites into an apple and leans against the cupboards.

"Yeah. TJ's driving me."

"TJ," she repeats. "What's, uh, what's going on with you two?"

I turn my eyes to match her curious gaze. She knows I'm gay, but I haven't told her about my crush on TJ yet. 

"Well, we . . ." I trail off, not knowing exactly what we are. "Well, we might be together. I'm not really sure."

She raises an eyebrow in question. "You might be together?"

"Yeah. He kissed me and said he liked me, and I definitely like him, but we never actually made it official."

"Aww! I like him a lot more than your other previous boyfriends."

I feel myself blush and say, "Mom!" But a second later, I add, "I do too."

Then I hear the doorbell ring and spin around. He came to the door? My mother shoos me away with a wave of her hand, and I go over to grab my backpack before answering the door. 

When TJ sees me, his smile drops into an open mouth, as though he's lost for words. 

"Hi," I say. 

"Uh, hi."

He stares at me for another moment, then shifts his eyes to my mother in the kitchen and gives her a wave. 

"Hello, TJ," she calls out. "You two have a good day at work."

"Thanks, mom," I reply. "Love you."

"Love you too," she says. 

I turn back to TJ and smile as I step out onto the porch, closing the door behind me. 

"I was trying to remember whether what happened yesterday actually happened or if I dreamt it," TJ says, looking me down and up. 

"It was real," I say, reaching for his hand. 

He glances down at where our fingers lace together, and a broad grin spreads across his face. Then he looks back up at me. 

"So you won't mind if I kiss you again?" he asks.

I step closer to him and reply, "I absolutely will not mind."

Gently, his lips graze mine, causing the butterflies from yesterday to return. _I really like him._

After a moment, we separate, and I decide to ask now, "What are we?"

I feel his thumb rubbing mine lightly as he answers, "Well, I was hoping I could be your boyfriend."

"I was hoping that too," I say with a grin. "But what about everyone at Adrenaline City? Are you okay with them knowing? Because you know they're going to ask."

"Um . . ." He glances down at our hands as he ponders the question. "Maybe they don't have to know quite yet."

"Okay," I respond. 

"I want to tell people. I do," he clarifies. "It's just that I haven't really come out to anyone yet except you, and I—"

"It's okay, TJ," I reiterate. "I understand. This can just be our secret for the time being."

He gives me a soft smile. "Thank you."

"Of course," I respond, squeezing his hand as reassurance. "Now we should be getting to work before we're late."

____________________________________

Although we automatically reach for each other's hands as we get out of the car, he lets go once we get up to back gate, not wanting the security member who scans our cards to see us like that. My hand feels cold without his as we enter the employee lounge, but I am instantly reminded of why he's afraid when dozens of teenagers turn to look at him. They don't know about us, but they do know about him and Jazlyn and how that's not a thing anymore. 

As quickly as we walked in, TJ rushes out down the rest of the hallway. I follow him into the washroom where he leans against the wall, tears pricking at his eyes. I gently let the door fall closed and step over to stand next to him, my eyes noticing how his stare out ahead of him. 

"You know it's not about us, right?" I ask quietly. 

"I know," he whispers. "But what about when it will be? Cyrus, I'm scared."

On instinct, I link my hand through his quaking one, which causes his shaking to fade.

"It's going to be okay," I assure him. "They care about Jazlyn right now, because she's the centre of attention, not you. I don't think anyone will care what you do once it doesn't involve one of the popular girls who control the gossip."

He lets out a quivering breath. "Maybe."

"Maybe is not no."

"No, it's not," he agrees. 

All of a sudden, the washroom door bursts open, and TJ promptly retrieves his hand from mine. As the interrupting boy goes to deal with his business, I give TJ a smile.

"Try not to be scared," I whisper.

He smiles back at me, responding, "You make it easier."

______________________________________

**TJ's POV**

 

When I'm sent on break, I'm dreading having to go back to the lounge, so I waste a lot of time by walking extra slowly toward the administration building from my game. Eventually, I have to go inside, so I hurry to grab my lunch from my locker as quickly as possible before making an attempt at zipping through to the patio. Most people are inside today, because it's unusually windy outside, so I figure the patio will be the best option to spend my break on if I want to try to avoid people. Unfortunately, I'm stopped by Chris on my way out.

"TJ," he calls. 

I turn around to see him waving me over. My lunch bag makes a thumping sound as I toss on the table before sitting in the chair across from him and Connor. I guess I'll have to answer these questions sooner or later. 

"Hi," I mumble. 

"What's up?" Chris asks, noticing my poor mood.

"Chris, you already know," I state. 

"Yeah," he admits. "I was just trying to make small talk before asking what happened with Jazlyn."

"We broke up," I reply. 

"Did she break up with you or you with her?" Conner asks, leaning her elbows on the table. 

"What's Jazlyn telling people?" I ask, prepared to go along with whatever her story is. 

"She's not being clear," Connor answers. "She's saying it was mutual, but everyone knows she was head-over-heels for you."

Thinking about that makes me feel even more guilty. I didn't want her to get hurt, but I couldn't play along with it for any longer. 

"Yeah, sure, it was mutual," I say. 

"Sounds like a lie," Chris comments. 

"She never even asked to be my girlfriend!" I snap, suddenly feeling the need to defend myself from seeming like a jerk. "I had to find out that we were dating!"

My friends are taken aback by my outburst, both speechless. I shake my head and grab my bag from the table.

"I'm gonna finish my break alone," I say before getting up to go toward the patio. 

____________________________________

**Cyrus' POV**

 

Leaves of crimson swirl in the air as they blow off the trees. Full-time operation has ended, and now the park is only open on weekends during September and some of October. I especially like days like today when TJ and I get to work at the same game together, because even though we go to the same school, we don't have any classes together. 

While I clean up the rings from the last player at Bottle Toss, TJ takes one from the floor and steps back before throwing it toward the glass bottle display. It bounces off and lands on the cement ground by my feet. 

"Nice try," I say with a small chuckle. "Would you like to play again or would you like to help me clean up the rest of the rings?"

He laughs and comes around to my side of the bottles to help me finish picking out the rings from the crevices, our shoulders touching from how close he stands. As he gets to work, I take one of the rings for myself and step back to give the game a try. 

"Hey," he says, looking back at me. "I thought you said you wanted to clean up."

"I said I wanted  _you_  to clean up," I correct.

He grins and comes over to try to steal the ring from me. I pull my hand around behind my back as he swipes for it. He reaches around to snatch it, but his hand ends up stopping when it touches mine, and his eyes flicker to my lips, our faces a few centimetres away. We can't do this here; we're at work. But the thought of it manages to distract me long enough for him to uncurl the ring from my grip and take it for himself. 

"Not fair," I say as he grins in victory. "I was distracted."

He shrugs. "You shouldn't have let me find your weakness."

I watch as he tosses the ring toward the bottles, missing for the second time. 

"Let a master show you how it's done," I say as I pick up another ring from the ground. 

I toss the ring at the bottles, not expecting to win. After all, I've never won before. To my surprise, the ring catches on the neck of the glass, and I beam at my success. TJ looks at me in shock. 

As he's about to speak, I see Naadirah climb over the counter around the game and land with her feet on the ground inside. 

"TJ," she says, "you're on break."

"Okay," he responds then glances at me. "You have to show me how you did it after."

"Maybe," I say with a grin. 

He smiles back before sitting down on the counter and pivoting around to the outside of the game to go on his break. I watch as he leaves before turning to Naadirah who eyes me with furrowed brows. Then she asks me the one question I was not prepared to answer. 

"Is there something going on with you and TJ?" 


	14. Not for Me to Tell

**Cyrus' POV**

 

Naadirah looks at me, her curious eyes burning as she waits for a response. 

"What do you mean?" I ask, trying to act as innocent and unknowing as possible. 

"Well, when I was walking over here, it kinda looked like you were about to kiss," she says. "Plus you guys are always really smiley around each other, and don't think people haven't noticed how he always drives you home."

"People have noticed?" 

I feel a nervous thumping in my chest. TJ is not ready for people to know about us yet, but she's asking me about us now. 

"You can tell me," she says. "I won't tell anyone."

"It's not for me to tell," I respond. 

"You realize you basically just confirmed it."

"Please don't say anything," I beg. "TJ's not ready for people to know."

"It's fine," she tells me. "I get it."

"Salt?"

"No. What?"

"Oh, never mind." 

"No. I mean I've been there," she says. "I was terrified last year when I came out to my work friends, but I'll tell you a secret: nobody really cared."

"I didn't know you were—"

"Bi," she finishes for me. "You didn't know, because nobody talks about it, because it's not a big deal."

"That makes me feel better," I respond. 

"Yeah, but TJ was the centre of a lot of drama this summer, so there will probably be a few more people talking about him."

"But the season's almost over anyway," I say. "We can hide it for a bit longer."

"You could," she agrees, "but what about at the Season Send-off? They always play at least one slow song. Are you really not going to dance with your boyfriend?"

I want to. The Season Send-off is a dinner and dance that happens at the end of every season to commemorate the season and just spend one last night together before everyone goes their separate ways. In my head, I always imagined this romantic moment for us. I pictured his hands on my waist and us swaying to some overplayed pop song. But if he still doesn't want to tell anyone about us, then that will just stay a daydream. 

"I guess not," I reply. "If TJ isn't ready for people to know, then I'm not going to push him."

She smiles. "That's admirable of you—putting him ahead of you."

I shrug, picking at the wood on the edge of the counter as I respond, "It's nothing special. I'm always going to be there for him. I l—" I shut my mouth to stop what was about to come out.

"You what?" she questions. 

"Nothing," I say, but she gives me a look of skepticism. "Nothing."

____________________________________

When I finish my shift, I find TJ waiting for me in the lounge and go over to the table where his smiling figure sits. 

"How was the rest of the day?" he asks.

"Good," I say.

"Are you gonna sit down?" he wonders, noticing how I'm still standing.

I shake my head. "Can I talk to you? Outside?"

His face fills with worry in an instant.

"Not that," I quickly correct. "Something else."

"Oh, okay," he responds with a nod. 

He gets up and follows me out to the patio. It's empty, because of the cold weather, so we only have to get out of range from the windows to be hidden from sight. 

"What's up?" he asks. 

I don't want to beat around the bush. I just want to get it out in the open, so that he doesn't find out later. 

"Naadirah knows about us," I say. 

He stays silent for a moment, but reaches for my hand on impulse, like he always does when he gets nervous, lacing his fingers through mine. 

"How?" he utters. 

"She guessed."

"And you answered?" He looks down as he processes it all. 

"I'm sorry," I whisper, "but I promise she won't tell anyone. She's been in our shoes."

He turns his eyes up to mine. "Really?"

I nod. "I trust her."

He takes a breath then says, "I trust you. So if you trust her, then I do too."

I smile up at him, and he tilts his head down as he steps in to kiss me. He locks his arms around me, pulling me up against him, neither of us thinking about anyone who could walk out onto the patio. When we're together, all that matters is us. 

When we finally separate, he grins and takes my hand again, but not to link it with his. Instead, he places my fingers on his wrist. I can feel his pulse pattering through his skin as he gazes at me. 

"Feel that?" he asks. 

"Your heart is beating really fast," I respond. 

He grins. "That's what you do to me."

Then he leans in to kiss me once more, and I feel his heartbeat thump even faster. 

___________________________________

TJ and I go over to his house after his school basketball practice. When we get inside, I manage to convince him to take a shower to freshen up after all the sweating he did. As he goes upstairs, I wait on the couch on the main floor for him to be done. As I wait, the front door opens, and his father and sister step inside. 

"Cyrus!" Lizzie squeaks when she sees me. 

She immediately kicks off her shoes and runs over to jump onto the couch next to me. 

"Hi, Cyrus," Mr. Kippen says.

"Hi," I respond. 

"I'll just be in the kitchen starting dinner," he explains. 

I nod, and he goes off into the other room. 

Right away Lizzie starts talking, saying, "Do you want to make snowflakes?"

I smile. "Sure."

She claps then scurries over to the shelf to pull out a few pieces of paper and two pairs of scissors. She sits back down and gives one of the pairs of scissors and a blank sheet. I start folding it the way I remember her telling me to the last time we did this, then we both snip at our paper triangles, causing pieces of white to flutter and fall to the ground. Once she's finished, she unfolds her page and holds it out to show me. 

"That's really good!" I say. 

"Thanks!" she chirps. "Can I see yours?"

"I'm not finished yet," I reply. 

She shrugs and grabs another piece of paper. 

"Do you think you could tell TJ to make snowflakes with me?" she asks. 

"I can try, but I'm not sure if he'll listen to me," I respond. 

"I think he will," she says. 

"Why do you think that?"

She grins as she looks up at me, then leans in to whisper, "I think he likes you."

That catches me off guard; TJ hasn't told his family about us yet. 

"Well, yeah," I say, trying to laugh it off. "We're friends."

She shakes her head. "I think he like likes you."

I'm speechless, but the silence is interrupted when TJ comes jogging down the stairs, his hair damp and messy. 

"Hey, TJ," I say. 

He smiles as he comes over to Lizzie and I, saying, "Making more snowflakes, huh?"

"TJ," I say again to get his attention. "Lizzie just said something to me. I thought you should hear it."

I look to Lizzie, who spins around to face her brother. 

"TJ, do you like like Cyrus?" 

His shocked eyes flick to mine, and I give him a nod, letting him know that I think it's going to be okay. Then he smiles slightly at me before looking back to Lizzie. 

"Yeah," he breathes. 

Lizzie's jaw drops into a huge smile as she whips back around to me. 

"I like him too," I say. 

She looks back and forth between TJ and I, her mouth still agape. 

"He's my boyfriend," TJ adds. 

"Wait!" she shouts. "Cyrus and you are boyfriends?"

TJ nods, which sparks Lizzie onto her feet, and she runs up to throw her arms around him. TJ laughs as he hugs her back. 

"I'm happy!" she says. "Cyrus is so much better than Megan and  Jazlyn!"

That makes me laugh too as I watch them from the couch. Then the last person in this household steps out of the kitchen and clears his throat, causing TJ to snap his sight to his father. 

"You have a boyfriend?" TJ's dad says. 

TJ's face goes pale as he nods slowly. 

"Well, why didn't you tell me?"

TJ breathes a sigh of relief as his father walks over to join the family hug. 

"I agree with Lizzie," Mr. Kippen says. "Cyrus is much better."

TJ smiles at me and says, "Yeah, he is."

Then I stand up and step over toward the happy family. 

"Mind if I join in the hug?" I ask. 

TJ reaches out and pulls me in by the hand. That's two more people who know about us. I just wonder if he'll ever be ready to tell the rest. 


	15. I Want That

**Cyrus' POV**  
  
  


"So," Andi says, "how was the zoo with Marty yesterday?"

Buffy and Jonah sit across from Andi and I at a table in The Spoon. I have spent most of my time after school at TJ's house. Now that his family knows about us, it's much more comfortable, because I don't have to worry about keeping my distance. Although I enjoy cuddling with him on his couch, my friends brought up today that we haven't been to The Spoon together in a while, so I decided that since TJ has basketball practice anyway, I'd come here with them to catch up.

"It was fun," Buffy replies. "I got a ton of pictures."

She pulls out her phone and starts swiping through the photos. None of them are of her and Marty. They're all of various animals, mostly otters.

"You didn't get any of the two of you?" Andi wonders.

"Oh, we did," Buffy says. "I just like otters. But I'll show you those too." She turns the screen so that she can look and smile at the images as she scrolls to the ones of her and her boyfriend before showing us.

Andi and I gaze at the pictures of them together, noting how they're always smiling wide. She skips past more, including one of them posing on a bridge at the zoo, finishing one swipe too far on a picture of her and Marty kissing on The Pier at Adrenaline City. Even after she takes her phone back, my mind lingers on the concept.  _I wish TJ and I could do that._

"You good?" Jonah asks me, noticing my sudden deflated mood.

"I'm fine," I say. "It's just . . . Never mind."

"You can't bring it up then not tell us," Buffy says.

I let out a breath. "Okay. It's the last photo, the one of you and Marty on The Pier . . ."

"What about it?" Buffy asks.

"I want that."

"You want to kiss Marty?" Jonah exclaims in confusion.

"No," I quickly correct him. "I want to kiss TJ. Like, he'll kiss me and hold hands with me whenever we're anywhere else, but not at Adrenaline City. I like him so much; it's hard to have to pretend that I don't."

Andi's face shows her understanding as she says, "That must suck."

"It's just hard to have such an amazing boyfriend and not be able to show him off," I admit.

"You wanna flex on all the girls who didn't get him," Jonah says.

"Exactly," I confirm, which makes the Buffy and Andi laugh a little as they bite into baby taters.

"I'm sure he'll be ready to tell people at some point," Andi says.

"Yeah," Buffy agrees, "and until then you guys can feel free to be annoyingly cute around us."

Andi gasps. "That's right!" Then she whips her head to me. "Cyrus, we've never hung out with you and TJ before. We've only ever talked to him at work."

"And?" I ask.

"Andi's right," Buffy says. "Why don't we all do something together on Friday? He's your boyfriend, and we barely know him."

"You really want to do that?" I say. "You won't say anything to embarrass me, right?"

"Like ask him if the recommendation letter that your mom gave him had any spelling mistakes in it?"

Andi and Jonah laugh along with Buffy, but I sit unimpressed.

"Yeah, like that."

"Okay, okay," Buffy says as she calms down. "I won't embarrass you."

"Thank you."

"So, wait, what are we doing?" Jonah asks.

"We could go bowling," Andi suggests.

"Five pin or ten pin?" Buffy questions. "Because five pin is for wussies."

"Ten pin works for me," Andi responds.

"Excuse me," I butt in. "You expect the boy who can't do the first half of a push-up to hurdle a ten-pin bowling ball?"

"Get TJ to help you," Buffy says with an upward wiggle of her eyebrows.

"Why are you guys better at my love live than I am," I say when I understand her idea.

All three of my friends share a glance before simultaneously responding, "Just another service we provide."

____________________________________

**TJ's POV**

 

I hop out of my truck, onto the asphalt, and meet Cyrus around on his side to take his hand in mine.

"I'm a bit nervous," I confess.

Cyrus and I step up onto the sidewalk that wraps around to the front of the bowling alley before he stops and turns to me.

"About what?" he asks.

"Well, I'm about to hang out with your friends for the first time outside of work," I explain. "I want them to like me. I know they didn't for a while."

He tilts his head, a comforting smile on his face. "That was months ago when they only knew about you whatever the rumours said. They'll like you now," he assures me. "I do. How could they not too?"

He rises up on his tiptoes to kiss me before pulling me through the doors to the bowling alley and down the stairs. He leads me up to his group of friends who stand by the counter, waiting for us.

"Hi," he says.

They all turn to greet us with smiles on their faces.

"Hey," Andi says. "TJ, I'm glad you came."

"Yeah," I respond. "I'm glad you asked me to. Not to brag, but I'm pretty good at bowling."

Buffy smirks and crosses her arms, saying, "Not to brag, but I'm better."

As she spins around to go up to the counter to get our lane, I give Cyrus a glance.

"She's competitive," he explains. "Don't expect to beat her."

"I like a challenge," I say.

He smiles at my confidence and gives my hand a squeeze. We follow the rest of the group up to the counter to pay and get our bowling shoes. After all of that, we find our lane. Black lights cause the white on my hoodie to glow, and Cyrus points that out.

"You're glowing," he says.

I look down at my top before looking back to him. "You're observant."

He laughs, and I put my arm around him as we walk over to the shelf to pick out our bowling balls. Cyrus chooses the lightest one there is, and I pick one more in the middle.

"Cyrus," Buffy says as we gather by our lane, "you're up first."

He looks to me and says, "I'm not very good at this. But you claim to be amazing, so . . ."

"I got you, "I respond with a grin.

I set my ball down in the ball return and join my boyfriend up by the dotted line. Cyrus hooks his fingers into the gripping holes of the bowling ball then glances to me.

"You could just roll it from between your legs like kids do," I say. "It's easier."

"I'm trying something new," he responds.

"Okay," I say with a chuckle.

Then I walk around to his right side to help him hold the ball up.

"Keep your aim straight—"

"Nothing about me is straight," he cuts me off.

That makes me grin as I continue instructing him. "We'll do it together on three. One. Two. Three."

We swing the ball back then send it rolling forward. To my surprise, the ball topples over nine out of the ten pins, leaving just one on the edge standing.

"Niceberg!" I say.

Cyrus laughs. "Niceberg?"

"Yeah."

"That's not a thing." he tells me.

"It's my thing," I rebut.

He puts his hand on my shoulder, saying with a chuckle, "Whatever you say."

_______________________________________

Cyrus holds my hand as we curve around behind the bowling alley building to go back to the parking lot. The sun sets a lot earlier at this time of year, so the sky is already a dark navy blue, and a shadow is cast upon everything around us.

Mine is the only car left in the parking lot, which is surrounded by the backs of buildings, creating a secluded place for me to wrap my arms around my boyfriend's waist and bring my lips to his. A tingle extends down my spine as his hands come up over my neck. 

"You know," I say when our lips separate again, "you're much better than you give yourself credit for."

He raises an eyebrow. "At bowling."

I grin. "Of course. Bowling."

Then I kiss him again, forcing away every particle of space between us, pulling his body up against mine. The heat we emanate warms the air around us, making me forget about the chill biting my skin. He resists a little when I pull away, but grins again after I lift him up onto the hood of my truck and collide my lips back with his. As we kiss, we sink further into each other, his arms pulling me closer by my shoulders, until the only way to fill the rest of the gap is to climb up onto my truck on top of him.

"Maybe we should go bowling more often," I say before bending over to kiss him as he lies back on the hood of the Chevy.

He gives me a grin when I pull up for air, responding, "Niceberg."

I break into laughter, saying. "I see your point. I won't say that again."

He laughs then reaches up to tug me back down to him. While my arms encompass his waist to keep his body on mine, one of his hands combs through my hair, sending my heartbeat into overdrive. We wind together, turning into two tangled jewelry chains; nobody could detach me from him, no matter how hard they try to rattle us apart.

Everything about this is perfect. Him and I and nothing else except whatever the song is that keeps us so in sync as I kiss him like he's the oxygen I breathe—because he is. I need him more than I've ever needed anyone or anything before, and there's no way I can possibly be close enough to this boy.

He smiles as I rise up to let him breathe, but that smile suddenly drops when his eyes set on something in the distance. I spin around to see what stole our moment and find the last person I expected to see: Jazlyn standing among two of her friends. When my eyes meet hers, she shakes her head out of her stare and hurries on through the parking lot.

I quickly climb down onto the pavement and go after her.

"Jazlyn!"

"No," she says as she whips around to face me. "I think I understand it all now." She looks at me for another moment before saying, "I'm sorry."

Then she turns back around to catch up with her friends, and I walk back to where Cyrus is now standing by my truck, a worried look on his face. Neither of us speak. Instead I just put my arms around him, pulling him into an strong embrace. I need him next to me if I'm going to deal with whatever comes tomorrow at work.

_____________________________________

Cyrus and I walk into the lounge with our hands linked together. I'm sure everybody already knows, so there's no point in letting him go. I have become so accustomed to the whispering at this point that I'm already prepared for a thousand eyes to fall on me, but to my surprise, none do. Sure, a few eyes flickers to Cyrus and I, but there are no mysterious whispers and no long stares. Everybody just converses as though nothing has changed.  _Maybe they don't know. But I'm holding his hand. They have to know now._

"I'm going to go clock in," Cyrus tells me before letting my hand loose.

Instantly, I feel the fear come flooding back to me as he walks away, and I spot a few people glancing over at me. I lean back against the wall and close my eyes, trying to think through what I'm going to say to people when they ask the questions I've been stirring over in my head for nearly two months now, ever since Cyrus and I started dating.

Then a familiar blonde girl comes over to stand beside me, and I turn my eyes to her.

"So you and Cyrus?" Megan says.

I nod, dreading what she's about to say, but what she actually says falls short of my expectations.

"Hmm." She folds her arms over her chest.

"I'm sorry," I say. I hurt her and made her feel like garbage, and now she finds out that I never even liked her in the first place. "I'm—" I take in a shuddering breath before finishing the sentence I've rehearsed so many times in my head, but have only ever said to Cyrus "—I'm gay."

She rolls her eyes, then turns to me to say, "TJ, nobody cares that you're gay." I don't know how to react, so she continues talking instead. "Whatever you do is up to you. There's nothing wrong with being gay, so don't go walking around feeling bad for dating girls before you figured it out." She sighs and leans back against the wall. "It actually kind of makes it better for me."

I look at her, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"I mean now I have a better explanation to tell people when they ask why you cheated on me." She smiles. "It wasn't anything wrong with me. You were just gay."

That statement is definitely flawed, but I'm not about to start a fight by pointing out every reason why she wasn't a good girlfriend. Maybe we can at least settle the bad blood left between us.

"So we're good?" I ask. "You're not mad at me anymore?"

"Oh, no, I'm still pissed," she says. "But I'll take the high road, because I'm just that kind of person."

She gives me a smug grin before flipping her hair and walking away toward a table of her friends. I don't really know why, but somehow talking to her made me feel a lot lighter.

Then a friendlier face approaches me and gives me a fist bump.

"Yo, why didn't you tell me about your secret boyfriend?" Marty asks with a grin. 


	16. TJ?

**Cyrus' POV**

 

I tighten the tie around his collar and step back to look at his whole attire. His light grey suit is the one I picked out with him specifically for this night, and I'm so glad I did, because he looks amazing in it. He gives me a charming smile as he tugs on the open suit jacket to adjust it.

"You look great," I say. 

"Not as great as you," he responds. 

He steps up and puts his arms around me to give me a kiss, letting our noses graze for a few seconds afterward before breaking away. 

I reach to grab my wallet and phone from my dresser, then go over to where TJ waits by my bedroom door. 

"Ready to go?" I ask. 

"I'm ready to see if you learned anything from that middle school dance class," TJ says. 

"Well, you might be disappointed," I respond with a laugh. 

We walk out of the room and down the stairs together. At the bottom, my mom stops us with the flash of a camera. 

"Mom!"

"You boys look so cute!" she says. "Pose together."

Although I'm annoyed by her, TJ just chuckles and puts his arm around my waist to smile for the photos. My mother snaps a few more shots before lowering the camera to examine them. 

"Thank you, TJ," she says. "I'm glad someone cares about documenting these memories."

"Okay, Mom," I say.

I take TJ's hand and pull him toward the door, waving to my mom as we step outside. He swings his arm over my shoulder as we walk to his truck, our footsteps in time together. 

"You know what I'm happy about?" he says. 

"What?"

"I won't have to take my arm from your shoulder the whole night."

"That's going to make it difficult to eat dinner," I say with a laugh. 

"Too bad," he responds, pulling me in closer to the side of his chest. "You'll just have to put up with it."

He smiles and kisses the top of my head before releasing me so that I can get in his truck. The motor hums to life, and TJ steers the vehicle out onto the road. I watch out the window as we pass by trees with bare branches, save for a few red leaves left dangling in the breeze. 

"I like your Chevy," I utter. 

"I like you," TJ responds. 

I turn my head to look at him with a smile. "I like you too." 

Now I let my gaze drift over him while he drives, from his gelled hair, across the faint freckles on his nose, and down to the smooth fabric of his sleeves. Everything about him is just perfect. 

"What are you thinking about?" he asks me, glancing over once before putting his eyes back on the road. 

"I'm thinking about how lucky we are," I reply, "and how Naadirah was right. People are much more invested in the actual drama than in something as simple as us."

He grins and bites his lip as he tries to keep his attention on the road, his eyes flickering over to me as he drives.

"Distracted driving isn't safe," I say, calling him out. 

That makes him grin even wider. "Well, can you stop being so cute?"

I smile. "I doubt it."

"Then we'll just have to take the risk," he responds, glancing to me once more after slowing to a stop for a red light. 

As the halted truck vibrates with its engine, I reach out and hook my pinky finger with TJ's, my heart fluttering at the touch. I like having him with me.

_______________________________________

TJ and I enter into the room hand in hand. Red tablecloths drape over the tables that fill the whole floor. The front row is reserved for the managers and administration of Adrenaline City, but beyond that, the employees all mingle around between the tables, everyone dressed up in their formal outfits. Andi waves when she sees us, and we go over to sit down at the table with her, Buffy, Marty, and Jonah. 

"Yo!" Marty says. 

"You guys are a bit late," Andi tells us. 

"Sorry," TJ says. "I'm not good with clocks."

"Makes sense," Buffy responds. "You guys look nice."

"Thanks," I reply. "I chose both of our suits."

"Well, as expected, Cyrus, you have good taste." Then her eyes drift to the entrance, which causes her eyebrows to crinkle in confusion. "Is that Jazlyn with Walker?"

We all turn to see the two walking in, holding hands. They quickly get swallowed up by the crowd of kids who go over to meet them. 

"I think it is," Andi says. "When did that happen?"

"Like, last week," Jonah replies. "Walker and I were hanging out, and he told that he asked Jazlyn out."

"Hmm, cool," Andi responds before turning back to us. 

We continue to converse until the managers step on stage, at which point the crowd hushes, and everyone finds their seats to listen.

"Hi," the woman says over the microphone. "Welcome to the Season Send-off. There's a lot of people here tonight, which is awesome to see! So how tonight is going to go is we'll be starting with some speeches from some of your managers and leaders, then we'll eat dinner, and, lastly, we'll conclude the night with some dancing."

The teenagers in the room all applaud, their cheers echoing off the ceiling.

_________________________________________

When the music comes on, Andi and Buffy are instantly up on their feet and racing toward the dance floor. While Marty goes to follow after his girlfriend, Jonah heads in the other direction to join a table of teens playing with a deck of cards rather than dancing. 

"So you gonna show me your moves?" TJ asks, standing up and reaching for my hand to pull me out of my chair. 

I lock my hands into his in front of our shoulders as I respond, "My dancing?" 

"Yeah," he says. "I've been waiting to see what you can do."

"Okay."

He grins and leads me along behind him up to the dance floor where we find my friends in the lake of kids. Right away I start doing the sprinkler to the beat of the music and TJ watches me with a smile. 

"I'm impressed," he says. 

I laugh. "Thanks. I try."

We dance together to the rhythm of the tunes, letting loose and not worrying about looking good. Nobody here is actually good at dancing, but there's something special about seeing people be so confident with looking weird. A few songs in, the crowd expands into a circle where one person goes into the centre to show off at time. 

Later, when the dancers disperse again back into an undefined blob of sweaty teenagers, the beat slows down as a familiar pop song called "There's No Way" begins playing through the speakers. I look around at the couples pairing off and notice Amber walk up to Andi next to me.

"Any chance you wanna dance with me?" Amber asks.

Andi smiles, and although she's surprised, she nods and lets Amber's hands settle on her waist.

Then I glance at TJ, who's already stepping up encompass me in his hold. I fold my arms over his neck and follow his lead in swaying from side to side. As the song plays, I rest my head on his shoulder, taking in the scent of his cologne. 

"TJ?" I say. 

"Yeah?"

"Do you think still we would've met if you hadn't decided to work at Adrenaline City?"

I listen to his voice vibrate through him while he speaks, giving me a sense of security as he replies, "I think so." He pauses for a second before explaining, "Picture this: a hot basketball player runs into an incredibly attractive co-president of the reptile club in the halls of Grant one day. When the basketball player kneels down to help pick up the other boy's books, he notices how neat his socks are and decides to share his opinion. They instantly click."

I smile. "I love that."

His response comes as a whisper, but it still manages to make my heart skip a beat as he says, "I love you."

I lift my head from his shoulder and match his gaze. "I love you too."

Then he tilts his face down to meet mine. Our kiss is gentle, but it's all I need. I can't even begin to fathom the idea that I ever thought I needed more than just this. I wouldn't trade this for everything in the world, because as long as I have him here with me, I do have everything.  _He is everything._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hat's it. It's done. This is the last chapter. Thank you all so much for reading. I've received a ton of positive feedback on this story and my stories in general recently, and I'm just so grateful for all of you. I love writing, and I love being able to make people feel something with just words on a screen. It's truly amazing. So thank you again for all your support. I love you all so much. Thank you for reading!  
> The song is "There's No Way" by Lauv feat. Julia Michaels

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!


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